No Chinese nationals hurt in New York subway station shooting: FM

The Chinese Consulate General has not received any information about Chinese nationals killed or injured in the New York subway station shooting.

China always opposes and condemns gun violence and expressed condolences to the injured and their families, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that a recurrence of tragedies like the Brooklyn subway station shooting was linked to the long-standing problem of the overabundance of guns and gun violence in the US.

In the first three months of this year, at least 10,362 people have died from gun violence in the United States including 131 mass shootings, he noted.

The shooting came on the same day that the US State Department released its 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which criticized other countries’ human rights situations while making no mention of its own deteriorating human rights situation, Zhao said.

“The US government can by no means lecture others on human rights, “ Zhao said. “What it should do is stop passing judgment on other countries’ human rights conditions and do something concrete to improve the poor human rights conditions within its borders.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General in New York would continue to follow the incident, he said.

“We also remind Chinese citizens in the US to raise awareness of the risks and protect their own safety,” Zhao said.

(Compiled by Meng Gaohan)