China hits back at U.S. over rights abuses

The Chinese report says use of the death penalty in the U.S. is racially unfair and riddled with miscarriages of justice

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Less than a week after the United States issued a report highly critical of China's human rights record, Beijing releases its own report lambasting what it says are "serious human rights violations" in the U.S.

The report issued Monday by the Information Office of the State Council and released through the official Xinhua news agency, hits back at the U.S. for assuming the role of "world judge on human rights."

Accusing Washington of "double standards," it said the State Department report issued March 4 "distorted human rights conditions in many countries and regions in the world ... all the while turning a blind eye to [America's] own human rights-related problems."

"In fact, it is right in the United States where serious human rights violations exist," the report says.

The U.S. report -- an annual review conducted by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor -- labeled China as one of the year's biggest human rights offenders saying the government "continued to commit numerous and serious abuses."

It said authorities were "quick to suppress any person or group ... that they perceived to be a threat to government power, or to national stability."

In response, the Chinese report listed six specific areas where it said U.S. respect for human rights was found wanting, including:

(Click here to read the full report on Xinhua)

American values

WEBLINK • From Xinhua: China's report on U.S. human rights record in 2001  • U.S. State Dept.: Report on China's human rights situation in 2001     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

The publication of the Chinese report follows last month's visit to China by U.S. President George W. Bush during which he held up American civil liberties and values as a model for China to follow.

In a speech to students at Beijing's top Tsinghua University he said America was "a free nation, where men and women have the opportunity to achieve their dreams."

In what would appear to be a rejection of that model, the Chinese report gives wide play to the prevalence of violent crime in the United States, which it said was partly fueled by a media culture "beautifying violence."

It also gave special mention to the fact that the United States was voted out of the United Nations Human Rights Commission last year -- a move which the report said showed "that it is extremely unpopular for the United States to push double standards and unilateralism on such issues as human rights."

The report also attacked elements of the U.S. law enforcement system saying cases of police brutality and unfair adjudication remained "stubborn diseases" in American society.

"Torture and forced confession are common in the United States," it said, "with the number of convicts on the death row that are misjudged or wronged remaining high."

Those convicts sentenced to death, but ultimately found wrongly convicted had sustained "tremendous mental trauma" the report said.

The State Department report said Chinese legal authorities were responsible for a wide range of human rights abuses

In contrast, the U.S. State Department report accused Chinese authorities of a wide range of abuses including: extrajudicial killings; torture and mistreatment of prisoners; forced confessions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lengthy incommunicado detention; and denial of due process.

It said China's judicial system "denies criminal defendants basic legal safeguards and due process because authorities attach higher priority to maintaining public order and suppressing political opposition than to enforcing legal norms or protecting individual rights."

Racial divide

The Chinese report also highlights what it calls the "serious problem" of the division between rich and poor in the U.S. but says the most serious human rights issue is that of racial discrimination.

It says unemployment among blacks in America is twice as high as that for whites, with many more blacks than whites locked up in U.S. jails.

In particular, it points to a United Nations investigation which it said found that colored convicts were likely to receive a penalty two or even three times as severe as whites convicted of the same crime.

For its part, the U.S. State Department report accused China of particularly serious abuses towards its ethnic minorities.

It said recent "Strike Hard" campaigns, ostensibly targeting crime, were being used as an excuse to crackdown on political dissidents and separatists.