Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry Photo: VCG

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin Friday slammed an "action plan" against China that the US Department of Justice launched in 2018, which a recent US university report exposed.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an "action plan" in the fall of 2018 which requires its 94 regional judiciaries to file at least one or two case(s) against China each year, according to the report released by Johns Hopkins University. The US justice authorities have launched more than 2,000 investigations resulting from the cases brought forward under the plan.

"It is pure political manipulation and another example of McCarthyism's resurgence in the US," Wang said at the ministry's regular press conference on Friday, in response to the Global Times reporter's question about the "action plan."

The DOJ does not base [its judgments] on facts, but promotes presumption of guilt with a politically-oriented mindset, Wang said. "What is the US' so-called spirit of the rule of law?" he asked, pointing out that it is not surprising that so many charges such as "espionage" and "stealing secrets" have been imposed on relevant Chinese individuals and institutions when the filing of anti-China cases has become a target or task that must be completed.

"We urge the US side to abandon cold-war mentality and ideological bias, stop playing political tricks, stop disrupting the normal Sino-US exchanges and cooperation in the fields including science, technology and culture," Wang said. 

The US must also stop the abuse of judicial power in harassing and suppressing Chinese students and researchers in the US to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens there, said Wang.

Global Times