China believes that the United States has a lot of gall criticizing their country on Human Rights because its own record is full of blemishes at home and aboard.
The Chinese accusation, in a retort to the State Department's annual human rights report issued Tuesday, called particular attention to what it said were abuses committed by U.S. soldiers and intelligence agents against terrorist suspects in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo. But it also underlined what it described as increased willingness by Washington to spy on its own citizens by monitoring their telephone calls, computer connections and travels.
According to an article in the Washington Post, China: Bush Has No Right to Criticize Countries On Human Rights, "As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights conditions in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but avoided touching on the human rights situation in the United States," said the report, issued by Premier Wen Jiabao's office. "We urge the U.S. government to acknowledge its own human rights problems and stop interfering in other countries' internal affairs under the pretext of human rights."
The article further points out that the Chinese response to U.S. human rights concerns has become a fixture over the last eight years. In the first years, it centered on a contention that human rights should be defined to include social and economic improvements, such as health care and education, where the Chinese government can point to rapid progress. These arguments were raised again this year, with charges that racial minorities, women and children suffer disadvantages in the United States.
In a time in our country when we have 47 million Americans with no health insurance, a potential shortfall to the states covering health insurance for children, New Orleans still in shambles with thousands displaced, and a 26 percent increase in severe poverty, the U.S. has a lot of nerve criticizing anyone about how they treat their citizens.
This is clearly another sign of the arrogance of this administration, and the lack of respect and poor standing the U.S. has throughout the world.
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