China slams US election ‘farce’ in annual rights report

People gather to show solidarity with the countless individuals affected by deportation, at Foley Square in New York on Thursday. (AFP)

BEIJING: Beijing on Thursday accused American politicians of corruption and hypocrisy in its yearly rebuttal to US criticisms of China’s human rights record, saving an extra heaping of invective for the country’s divisive presidential race.
“In 2016, money politics and power-for-money deals controlled the presidential election, which was full of lies and farces. There were no guarantees of political rights,” Beijing’s report said.
“Waves of boycotts and protests fully exposed the hypocritical nature of US democracy,” it added, without mentioning restrictions on freedom of speech in China.
The report was issued by China’s Cabinet in response to the US State Department’s annual survey of human rights in 199 countries released Friday. Beijing does not release rights reports on other countries.
Human rights are a longstanding source of tensions between China and the US, which imposed sanctions after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing left hundreds, by some estimates more than 1,000, dead.
Unlike the US, China does not have a democratic multi-party system. The Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly imprisoned those who openly challenge its right to rule or have protested publicly.
However, Beijing’s report highlighted recent cases of police violence and racial discrimination in America to argue that the US is in no position to take the moral high ground.
The report relied heavily on coverage by US media outlets such as the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
Beijing is highly sensitive about critical coverage of its political system in the international press, with multiple journalists being denied authorization to stay in China in recent years.
The US State Department’s own report accused China of “repression and coercion” of civil society groups. It also noted encroachment on residents’ liberties in the semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
In another development, China on Thursday demanded the US “stop its cyberattacks” after Wikileaks released a trove of documents which they said exposed the CIA’s hacking operations.
According to the documents leaked this week, the US spy agency has produced more than 1,000 malware systems — viruses, trojans, and other software that can infiltrate and take control of target electronics.
“We are concerned about the relevant reports. China is opposed to any forms of cyberattacks,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said.
“We urge the US side to stop its wiretapping, video surveillance, espionage and cyberattacks on China and other countries,” Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular press conference.
“China will firmly safeguard its own cybersecurity. It is ready to enhance dialogue and cooperation with the international community to formulate a set of international rules on cyberspace acceptable to all parties,” he added.
By infecting and effectively taking over the software of smartphones, WikiLeaks said, the CIA can get around the encryption technologies of popular apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Weibo, and Confide by collecting communications before they are encrypted.
The CIA on Wednesday denounced the leaks, saying they put agents in danger and aid the enemies of the US.
China and America regularly carry out cyberattacks on the other, to the detriment of bilateral ties.