China has hit out at US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s harsh criticism of its human rights record as “inappropriate.”
In an interview published earlier this week that focused largely on recent turmoil in the Arab world, Clinton denounced China’s clampdown on dissent as a “fool’s errand,” saying Beijing was trying to stop the course of history.
The remarks were some of the strongest by a senior US official since China launched a major crackdown earlier this year and came as Clinton was meeting with senior leaders from Beijing as part of the two nations’ annual dialogue.
“It is inappropriate for anyone to put China on a par with countries in Western Asia and North Africa facing turmoil,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said in a statement issued in direct response to Clinton’s comments.
In the interview with The Atlantic magazine, Clinton said of Chinese officials: “They’re worried and they are trying to stop history, which is a fool’s errand.”
“They cannot do it, but they’re going to hold it off as long as possible,” she added.
China, apparently spooked by the wave of pro-democracy protests sweeping the Arab world, has rounded up dozens of lawyers, writers, artists and other perceived critics in recent months.
Clinton and US President Barack Obama separately raised concerns about human rights with Chinese delegates during a two-day wide-ranging annual dialogue between the two sides held in Washington this week.
China’s state-owned Global Times newspaper said in an editorial yesterday that Clinton’s comments were “undignified.”
“As it adopts a different social system, China naturally fails to meet the human rights standards set by the West,” it said.
“The West’s indoctrination of human rights has had some effects on some people, who echo the West’s vilification of the nation’s human rights record, but they are the minority and cannot represent the mainstream,” it added.
“These people’s voices could be heard in recent years due to the openness and diversification of Chinese society, but that does not mean Western ideology can be accepted by the majority of Chinese people,” it said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese