Beijing - China on Friday issued a report on human rights in the US,
denouncing it for foreign drone strikes, state-sponsored spying and
"rampant" gun crime after Washington criticised its rights record.
Beijing
said the US "concealed and avoided mentioning its own human rights
problems", such as a government-run intelligence programme known as
Prism which it said "seriously infringes on human rights".
The document came after the State Department issued its annual global human rights report on Thursday.
The
report, released by China's State Council, or cabinet, singled out the
US for criticism for drone strikes in countries such as Pakistan, which
it said have caused "heavy civilian casualties".
It also said the
US suffers from "rampant gun violence", while its agricultural sector
employs a "large amount of child labourers".
Washington's report
released on Thursday praised China for some successes in human rights,
such as the abolition of some labour camps and a change to the one-child
policy.
But it added that "repression and coercion, particularly
against organisations and individuals involved in civil and political
rights advocacy... were routine".
It also noted Beijing's continued repression of ethnic Uighurs and Tibetans.
Human
rights are a long-standing source of tensions between China and the US,
which imposed sanctions on Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen Square
crackdown on pro-democracy protesters which left hundreds or thousands
dead.
References in the Chinese document showed that much of it was sourced from US media reports.
China's
ruling Communist Party tightly controls its own domestic media and has
repeatedly imprisoned those who openly challenge its right to rule.
China
often says that its rapid economic development in recent decades has
lead to a greater respect for human rights, and that other countries are
not entitled to criticise its record
