China on Wednesday expressed regret over the U.S. decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council.
State media say the image of the United States as a defender of rights was “on the verge of collapse”.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced the decision to pull out of the Council on Tuesday over what she said was chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform.
Rights groups have criticised the decision as sending a message that the U.S. was turning a blind eye to abuses across the world.
According to Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, China expresses regret at the U.S. decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
“China will continue working with all sides to make its contribution to the healthy development of human rights around the world via constructive dialogue and cooperation,” Geng said.
Asked about U.S. criticism of China’s rights record, Geng said the U.S. was ignoring the facts and that anyone, who was without prejudice, could see the enormous progress China had made on rights.
The official publication of China’s top anti-graft watchdog said in a commentary the U.S. decision to leave the council “has put the American peoples’ boastful image of being a defender of human rights on the verge of collapse’’.
“The separation of immigrant families on the U.S.-Mexico border showed the hypocrisy of the U.S. and that it cannot and should not criticise other countries’ rights record,’’ it said.
Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989 when the U.S. imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
A report says China regularly rejects criticism of its human rights record and points to its success at lifting millions out of poverty.
However, the ruling Communist Party brooks no political dissent and since President Xi Jinping took office, dozens of rights lawyers and activists have been arrested or jailed in a crackdown that activists say is worse than any in decades.
Beijing also releases an annual report, lambasting the U.S. for its rights problems, invariably citing racism, political standards and gun violence. (Reuters/NAN)