Responding to U.S. criticism of its human rights
record, China returned fire in a blistering rebuttal Monday -- a
point-by-point dismantling of American society that depicted a
nation beset by crime, violent media images, indifference to
poverty and arrogant foreign policy.

Despite the harsh tenor of the Chinese report on American human
rights, there was little to indicate that it, like its counterpart report
issued by the U.S. State Department last week, would affect the
increasing warmth of Beijing-Washington relations.

Most of the Beijing report, the latest in a series issued annually in
recent years by the government's State Council Information Office,
was based on a single cornerstone: that the U.S. government has
no business criticizing other nations' human rights records before it
cleans its own house.

"Once again the United States, assuming the role of 'world judge of
human rights,' has distorted human rights conditions in many
countries and regions in the world, including China, and accused
them of human rights violations, all the while turning a blind eye to
its own human rights-related problems," the report said.

Especially notable was the document's scant criticism of the U.S.
response to the Sept. 11 attacks --something China is loath to
condemn, since it, too, has a vested interest in fighting terrorism, a
term it uses to justify crackdowns on domestic dissent.

[salon.com]