China hit back at the US over its human rights record yesterday, bringing out government-backed academics to accuse Washington of everything from promoting the Islamic State group to being a racist plutocracy.
China was infuriated last week when the US and 11 other countries at the UN criticized China’s crackdown on human rights and its detentions of lawyers and activists.
At a news conference arranged by the State Council Information Office for mostly Chinese reporters, four academics at government-run bodies lambasted the US for what they said was hypocritical criticism of China and others.
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences human rights institution director Liu Hainian (劉海年) blamed Europe’s “refugee wave” on the US’ military involvement in the Middle East which was forcing people to leave their “beautiful homes.”
“Think about it. Certain extremist groups that now exist, including Islamic State, wasn’t it the Americans who first off promoted them from behind?” Liu said.
Closer to home, the US has a terrible problem with racism, with police last year killing about 1,000 people, he added.
“Most of those were people of colour,” Liu said.
Tianjin-based Nankai University human rights research center vice director Chang Jian (常健) said the US electoral system was being increasingly controlled by Super PACs — committees well-funded by corporate interests.
“There are fewer and fewer opportunities for ordinary people to participate in elections,” he said.
Chang made no mention of China’s own tightly controlled political system, which has been run by the Chinese Communist Party without interruption since the 1949 revolution.
Asked about China’s own problems, Chang said he was not there to talk about China but to talk about the US, although he said China did not shy away from admitting its faults.
However, he and Liu avoided answering a question about televised broadcasts of confessions by suspects, often those involved in sensitive human rights cases, which have angered the US and Europe.
HEALTHY CENSORSHIP
Liu admitted some Web sites were “probably” blocked or deleted in China, although he said this was being done for the sake of protecting the country’s young people from pornography, gambling and drugs.
“I’m really worried about my grandchildren. I hope they can growth up healthily. This kind of information needs to be removed,” he said.
When asked why Chinese media were not allowed to rigorously criticize China’s rights record in the same way the US media were able to do in their home country, Liu instead criticized US journalists’ reporting on China.
“Their reports on China are very few and very negative,” he said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work