Chinese Ambassador Qiao Zonghuai has refuted United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's groundless charges and slanders against China's human rights situation.

Addressing the 56th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights here Thursday, Qiao said that the Chinese delegation was obliged to exercise the right of reply to reject the unwarranted accusations on China by Albright on the same day and some other Western guest speakers since the session began on March 20.

"China has all along been committed to the promotion and protection of human rights," he said. "In the past year, while developing its economy and improving the people's living standard, China has also attached great importance to the building and perfection of democracy and legal system and the promotion and protection of civil and political rights."

He told the session that various positive measures had been adopted to enhance judicial transparency, law enforcement supervision, the anti-corruption combat according to law and the perfection of its democracy and legal system.

"China is now in the best historical period with regard to human rights situation," the Chinese ambassador said. "The Chinese constitution clearly stipulates that all Chinese citizens are entitled to freedom of expression, assembly, association and religious belief.

Under the protection of the constitution and other laws, Qiao said, the Chinese people freely enjoy all these rights according to law and there does not exist the question of persecution at all. "The human rights of all the ethnic minorities, including the Tibetan people, are also fully respected and protected," he added. Talking about "Falun Gong," Qiao said that the evil cult had spread fallacies and endangered the life and health of the Chinese people. The cult has already claimed the lives of more than 1,400 practitioners and innocent people.

"The fundamental objective for the Chinese government to ban this cult is to protect the human rights of all Chinese people," he said. "The United States, while severely crashing down cults at home, has made irresponsible remarks on China's handling of evil cult. This is completely out of the needs of domestic politics and is a clear demonstration of double standards."

Citing the Chinese proverb "Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you," Qiao said that the Chinese government and people are firmly opposed to this kind of practice by the United States.

"The United States is used to pointing fingers at other countries' human rights situation, but back in its own country, there exist gross violations of human rights: notorious racial discrimination, police brutality, torture in prison, infringement on women's rights and campus gun killings," he said. "A country like the United States with such poor human rights record has no right to judge other countries' human rights situation at the U.N. forum," he said.

The Chinese ambassador advised the United States to spend more time to examine its own human rights situation instead of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of human rights. Otherwise, he said, it will end up with lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet.

He also told the United States not to bring the struggle between U.S. parties to the U.N. forum in order to canvass votes in the presidential elections.

Delegates of Cuba, Iraq and Russia exercised their right of reply to denounce the U.S. accusations against their respective countries.