Beijing responds to U.S. rights report

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BEIJING, May 25 (UPI) -- Beijing said it published a human rights report on the United States after saying a similar report from Washington was distorted and too critical.

The U.S. State Department, in its annual human rights report, criticized Beijing for "severe" and "serious" human rights abuses.

Statements on China in the report reference allegations of forced disappearances, repression of free speech and a policy of targeting human rights advocates.

"Repression and coercion, particularly against organizations and individuals involved in rights advocacy and public interest issues, were routine," the report read. "Individuals and groups seen as politically sensitive by the authorities continued to face tight restrictions on their freedom to assemble, practice religion, and travel."

Beijing on Friday released a report on the human rights record of the United States. The report said the U.S. statements were "overly critical" and had distorted the human rights situation in China.

Washington, the report said, is in no position to criticize human rights issues in other countries, the official Xinhua news agency reports.

It called on the U.S. government to take a close look at its own human rights record and end the policy of using human rights as "a political instrument for interfering in other countries' internal affairs, tarnishing the images of other nations and seeking its own strategic interests, and to cease using double standards on human rights and pursuing hegemony under the pretext of human rights," Xinhua said.