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China
Condemns U.S. Military Expansion
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| China: U.S. sees itself as world judge of human rights & turns a blind eye to itself |
BEIJING,
March 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - China on Monday broke
with its policy of refusing to condemn the increased U.S. global
military presence following September 11, saying the expansion of
Washington's "so-called security interests" violated
global human rights.
The
criticism, in a scathing report assessing the United States' record
on rights, marks a rare note of discord from China's general support
for the U.S.-led military response to the deadly attacks six months
ago, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"The
United States has built many military bases all over the world,
where it has stationed hundreds of thousands of troops, violating
human rights everywhere in the world," said the lengthy
document, issued Monday by China's cabinet, the State Council.
"Today,
the United States has expanded its so-called security interests to
almost every corner of the world," it continued.
China
has previously been at pains to avoid commenting on the U.S.'s
deployment of troops following September 11 to Central Asian
countries on its own borders such as Afghanistan.
The
"Human Rights Record of the United States in 2001" – a
riposte to last week's condemnations of China's record by Washington
– contains an entire section lambasting U.S. military might.
Last
week the U.S. State Department released its annual report on human
rights around the world, in which it described the situation in
China as poor.
The
report comes after several thousand U.S. troops were stationed in
Kyrgyzstan, on China's Central Asian border, and U.S. forces
returned to the Philippines, BBC’s online service reported.
It
says American forces are now stationed in more than 140 countries
and the U.S. has "expanded its so-called security interests to
almost every corner of the world".
It
points to a high murder rate, racism, sexual discrimination and
poverty.
According
to the BBC the Chinese accusations, which also refer to claimed U.S.
human rights abuses in other countries, include:
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police
brutality, overcrowded prisons and an inhumane system of keeping
prisoners sentenced to capital punishment on "death
row";
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widespread
sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy in "the
greatest scandal in the United States following the Enron
case";
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fostering
a "culture beautifying violence" through media
"inundated with violent content";
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maintaining
a "Third World" of poverty at the heart of a
superpower.
The
U.S. sees itself as "world judge of human rights", the
report says
While
"distorting human rights conditions in many countries and
regions in the world including China", it says, the U.S.
"turns a blind eye to its own".
It
is the third year Beijing has taken the United States to task for
its own internal problems, but the first time this has been extended
to include U.S. foreign policy, AFP said.
Evidence
cited ranges from the scale of American military spending to the use
of depleted uranium weapons and crimes committed by U.S. servicemen
abroad.
The
section also resurrects indignation over the collision last April
between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet over the
South China Sea, in which a Chinese pilot died.
Relations
between Beijing and Washington have improved following China's
support for the U.S. response to September 11 and two subsequent
visits to China by U.S. President George W. Bush, with both
countries seemingly keen to gloss over traditional irritants.
However,
Monday's report is a clear sign that below the surface many issues
remain unresolved, said Lau Sui-kai, a political analyst at Hong
Kong's Chinese University.
"Despite
all the appearance of cordiality between (Chinese President) Jiang
Zemin and George W. Bush during Bush's visit to Beijing, I would say
that there is still a lot of mutual suspicion between the
countries," he said.
"Most
alarming to China is the idea of being encircled," said Lau.
"This report shows China's real feelings."
Last
week's U.S. State Department report concluded that China committed
"numerous and serious abuses" of human rights in 2001,
including arbitrary arrest, torture and the repression of religion
and of minorities in Tibet and the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.
China
immediately rejected the criticisms as "unreasonable".
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