US should drop arrogance in human rights disputes

Source:Global Times Published: 2015-6-27 1:08:03

While China and the US wrapped up their annual strategic dialogue and reached 310 agreements, the two countries again clashed over human rights.

The "2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" issued by the US State Department on Thursday accused China of continuing to "imprison citizens for reasons related to politics and religion. Tens of thousands of political prisoners remain incarcerated."

The US-based NGO Human Rights Watch also attacked China on Friday, claiming that torture is the Communist Party of China's routine practice to keep its rule. The report also states that 2014 is the darkest year of Hong Kong's press freedom.

In response to the report, China released "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014" on Friday, saying that the US was haunted by gun crimes, violence and excessive police force. The report also claimed that the US used torture indiscriminately and is a country with grim problems of racial discrimination. Money is a deciding factor in US politics, and the National Security Agency and other intelligence-gathering apparatus of the US have been spying on world leaders and civilians for a long time.

The US ran into debates over human rights with many countries, among which the disputes with China is the most typical one. Most frictions in Sino-US relations are governmental, especially on human rights issues. Although the US has a terrible human rights record, the country has always taken the offensive. Since human rights issues are closely related to the Chinese people's recognition of their own country, China responded to the US report seriously.

In general, many developing countries including China say that the US points fingers at many countries while ignoring its own terrible human rights record.

China's human rights record has been improving in recent years.  The most reasonable suggestions from the West have been adopted by China and changes have taken place. China's human rights record presents a new face compared to 10 years ago. Therefore, the country is more confident in pointing out US human rights problems. 

In recent years, China has undergone great reforms. China's judicial organs have released rules to prevent the use of torture in confessions and law enforcement bodies are under stricter supervision by the public. The accusation that  "torture is used by China to rule the country" is nonsense. Moreover, few people will believe the accusation of "tens of thousands of political prisoners."

The debate over human rights between China and the US has become clearer. US citizens have already seen deficiencies in their social management, which is a problem difficult to solve.

The US criticized China's political system by focusing on a small radical group who demanded that China agree on terms banned by China's laws and unwelcome by Chinese society. 

As the No.1 power in the world, the US did play some positive role in pushing forward global human rights. But when the US condemns the human rights record of other countries, the move is often entangled with political motives against certain countries.

It seems that the dispute over human rights will go on. China is willing to improve its human rights situation, and the issues surrounding China's political system will gradually gain the world's understanding. But the US seems to be prepared to remain arrogant and believes its human rights record is the world's standard.

The fact is, the US will not be able to conceal its problems. If it refuses to change, its human rights problem will grow into a crisis some day.



Posted in: Editorial

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