BEIJING - A U.S. State Department report that criticized China's human rights record is without basis and irresponsible, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the China section of the State Department's annual report on U.S. efforts to support democracy worldwide "turned a blind eye to solid facts, attacking irresponsibly China's human rights."
"We express our strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition," Qin said in a statement posted on the Ministry's Web site. "A lot of efforts have been made to expand democracy and reinforce the rule of law in China. Human rights in China have made new progress constantly."
The report, released Thursday, detailed Washington's moves to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law in China - including a push by President Bush to advocate for the release of political prisoners in his meetings last year with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, and other approaches.
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China said the U.S. should pay more attention to its domestic human rights situation.
"It's the consensus of the international community that the U.S is not qualified to be the 'human rights guard' at all," Qin said. "We strongly advise it to focus more on human rights problems within its own boundary and stop its erroneous activities of interfering in other countries' domestic affairs with the excuse of human rights."
Last month, China issued a report in response to U.S. criticism of Beijing's human rights record in which it accused Washington of trampling on Iraq's sovereignty. It also said the U.S. used its campaign against terrorism as an excuse to torture people around the world and violate the rights of its own citizens.
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