Beijing comes in for harsh criticism over freedoms of speech and assembly, and violence against religious and ethnic groups
The United States has hit out at China, along with Russia, Iran and North Korea, in its annual human rights report for violating rights, calling them “forces of instability”.
As in previous years, China was harshly criticised for restricting freedoms of speech and assembly and allowing or committing violence against religious and ethnic groups in the latest report from the US Department of State that covers 2017 and was released on Friday.
The global human rights report said Beijing was also responsible for arbitrary detentions, executions without due process and coerced confessions of prisoners, as well as forced disappearances. It was the first time the report has been produced entirely by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
“China continues to spread the worst features of its authoritarian system,” Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan told reporters on Friday.
The report stresses the condition of significant figures including Liu Xia, the widow of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, and lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was detained by Chinese authorities during a round-up of more than 300 human rights lawyers and legal associates in July 2015 known as the “709” crackdown because of when it happened.
Liu Xia has remained under extralegal house arrest after her husband died of liver cancer while in police custody in July last year, the report said. But it did not say whether the US would press for her release.
Wang’s whereabouts remain unknown, and he is believed to be the last lawyer swept up in the “709” crackdown still in custody.
“As of December, Wang’s family had neither seen nor heard from him since his detention, and his friends and family said they did not know whether or not he was still alive,” the report said.
