US-led airstrikes in Syria, Iraq gross rights violation: China

Smoke billows following an airstrike by the US-led coalition on February 3, 2016 in an area east of the city of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar Province. ©AFP

China has lashed out at the US over rights abuses both inside and outside its borders, saying the deadly Washington-led air raids in Iraq and Syria are a “gross violation” of human rights.

In a report by the Cabinet’s State Council Information Office on Thursday, Beijing hit back at an earlier report by the US State Department that criticized China’s human rights record.

Beijing censured the civilian deaths caused by so-called anti-terror airstrikes, led by the US, in Iraq and Syria, as well as Washington’s drone attacks in other countries such as Afghanistan.

“Since the U.S. government can’t be bothered to raise a mirror to look at itself, it's up to others to complete the task,” said Beijing’s report, adding, “America is still committing gross violations of other countries’ human rights, viewing lives in other countries as worthless,” the report said.

Since September 2014, Washington along with some of its allies has been conducting air raids against what are said to be positions of Daesh terrorists in Syria without any authorization from Damascus or the UN. The campaign in Syria is an extension of the US-led strikes against similar positions in Iraq, which started in June 2014.

However, the US-led military campaign has failed to dislodge the terrorists and has been widely criticized as the air strikes have led to a large number of deaths among civilians and government forces and have taken a heavy toll on Iraq’s and Syria’s infrastructure.  

The Daesh terrorists have seized parts of land in Iraq and Syria and are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

A US Navy plane maneuvers on the runway of the Incirlik Air Base, in Adana, Turkey, July 28, 2015. ©AP 

The also US regularly uses drones for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Washington has also been conducting targeted killings through remotely-controlled armed drones in Somalia and Yemen.

Elsewhere, the Chinese report touched on topics such as gun crime, police brutality, corruption in the prison system, racial conflict, homelessness and gender pay disparity in the US society.

The US government “wantonly infringed upon” civil rights and faced “rampant gun-related crime,” the report added, criticizing the US for eavesdropping on foreign nationals.

On Wednesday, the US State Department published its annual report on China’s human rights situation as part of a larger review of the rights practices across the globe.

The US document slammed Beijing’s repression against civil society and its “severe” crackdown on Chinese lawyers handling politically sensitive cases.

Asked about the US report, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday that the politicization of human rights was a “futile” move to meddle in China’s stability and development.

“The United States’ so-called annual human rights report uses the issue of human rights to make irresponsible remarks about other countries’ internal politics,” he said.