Chinese Scholars Condemn US Annual Report on Human Rights

Experts and scholars from China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) convened Friday to refute the distorted statements concerning China's human rights record in the US annual report on human rights, which was released February 27 by the US State Department.

In response to the statement in the annual report accusing Chinese government's autocratic rule and prevailing infringement on human rights, Zhou Jue, President of CSHRS, said that it is a common practice for the US government to fabricate conclusions out of hearsay evidence.

Zhou held that the ultimate goal of the annual report was to change the socialist system of Chinese society.

Zhu Muzhi, honorary president of CSHRS, said that the annual report's statement admitting China's continuous progress in improving people's living conditions repudiated its groundless censure on China's human rights.

To save China's large population from starvation is the best manifestation of China's concern and successful efforts to protect fundamental human rights, he said.

Human rights specialists present at Friday's seminar also held that this year's human rights statement by the US government is characterized by taking China's official ban on the Falun Gong cult as a vital proof for persecution on religion.

"The annual report turned a deaf ear to the atrocities done by the Falun Gong cult organization. Isn't it the most inhumane and vicious deed for a mother to destroy lives gestated by her at the instigation of Li Hongzhi, the cult's ringleader?" asked Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs.

United Nations human rights specialist Fan Guoxiang said that the US government was using the human rights issue as a pretext to interfere with China's internal affairs and attempting to stall China's rapid social development.

Fan said that countries with different cultural and historical backgrounds define human rights differently. It is a hegemonic act of the US State Department to impose their human rights standards on other countries with the release of the annual report.

China on February 27 released "U.S. Human Rights Record in 2000 " detailing the rampant infringement of human rights in the United States in response to the U.S. accusation.






People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/