The US decision to introduce an anti-China human rights motion at the session of the UN Human Rights Commission is a "serious interference in China's internal affairs," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing Tuesday.

The Chinese government and people express strong indignation at and are firmly opposed to the US move, Kong said in a prepared statement.

 

Kong said that the US decision was made with a domestic political motive rather than care for human rights, and was an attempt to interfere in China’s internal affairs under the guise of human rights.

 

Kong stressed that the US decision has politicized the human rights issue, and therefore tarnished the sacred cause of human rights. Such an unpopular attempt will be futile, he said.

 

"The Chinese government has paid great attention to the promotion of human rights and earnestly implemented the human rights convention it has joined," Kong said.

 

China has been strengthening its construction of democracy and the rule of law and its reform of the judicial system in order to improve the protection of human rights, Kong said. He noted that China wrote a clause concerning the respect and protection of human rights into its Constitution earlier this month.

 

Kong said China has made remarkable progress in the protection of human rights and has won wide praise from the international community.

 

Recognizing that differences exist between China and the United States on the issue of human rights, Kong said such differences should be properly addressed through dialogue and exchange "on the basis of equality and mutual respect."

 

"China has made unremitting efforts and showed utmost sincerity and flexibility in this regard," he said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2004)