"The United States has no right to pose as arbiters and at every turn point their fingers at other countries' human rights as racism and mistreatment of prisoners and other serious problems in the United States are facts now known to all," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said as quoted by Reuters.
China released its statement in response to critic remarks from US Secretary of State John Kerry and US ambassador to China Max Baucus over China's human rights issues, particularly the imprisonment of Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo.
"The United States is not looking at the facts and intentionally smearing China's rights situation, exposing even more the US hypocrisy and double standards on the issue of human rights. We advise the US side to reflect on and correct its own human rights problems and stop their unwarranted attacks on China," Hong Lei emphasized.
Meanwhile Xinhua, a Chinese state-run media outlet, claimed the United States is "neither a suitable role model nor a qualified judge on human rights issues in other countries, as it pertains to be." The media outlet points out that the US is turning a blind eye to its own problems, while accusing other countries of violating human rights.
Xinhua underscores that the US is hypocritically using the human rights issue as a political tool, stressing that China is "open to dialogues and exchanges with other countries over its human rights issues and welcomes friendly advice and suggestions." Xinhua called upon the US government to "clean up its own backyard" first and respect the rights of other states to cope with their domestic issues themselves.
Commenting on the CIA torture report, China Central Television, a state-run broadcaster, has qualified it as "a heavy slap in the face of the American government."
"China has consistently opposed torture. We believe that the US side should reflect on this, correct its ways and earnestly respect and follow the rules of related international conventions," stressed Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei, as quoted by the Global Times.
