US needs to take good hard look at itself: China Daily editorial

The US State Department issued its annual human rights report on China on Tuesday last week, in which it once again groundlessly pointed an accusing finger at the country for alleged human rights abuses.

The report is divorced from reality and constitutes a grave interference in China's internal affairs. The US' double standards on human rights issues and its intention of weaponizing human rights for its own geopolitical interests are plain to see.

China's human rights achievements are widely recognized around the world. The country's development is about providing a better life for the 1.4 billion Chinese people and the country follows a people-centered development approach. It has charted a path of human rights development that suits China's national conditions. The path has been embraced by the people and conforms to the trends of the time.

In the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, people of different ethnic groups enjoy their rights according to law. The region has achieved noticeable results in advancing socioeconomic development and human rights, and it remains stable and tranquil. As a result, it has been able to open its doors wider to the outside world, receiving more than 200 million domestic and foreign tourists annually. It has also become a major hub of the Belt and Road Initiative and a major channel for the China-Europe Railway Express.

Likewise, human rights in the Xizang autonomous region and its development have made evident progress. The success of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in practicing "one country, two systems" is also there for everyone to see.

While China is willing to engage in dialogue and exchanges on human rights with all countries, it will never allow any country to interfere in its internal affairs, jeopardize China's interests, or tarnish China's image under the pretext of "human rights". The nation is firmly opposed to the politicization and weaponization of human rights issues, and the arbitrary use of human rights by some developed countries to suppress developing countries that pursue independent and autonomous policies.

Before lecturing other countries on human rights, the US should face squarely its own human rights issues. The State Council Information Office of China on Sunday released a report on human rights violations in the US in 2024, indicating how grave the human rights conditions are in the country.

The inequality in US society continues to increase, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. As a result the US public is deeply disillusioned with the country's democratic system in which money dictates policy. For instance, the root cause of the US' opioid crisis lies in interest hijacking, government-business collusion and regulatory failure. Interest groups, driven by profit, have intensified their lobbying efforts and deceptively promoted the use of opioids. The number of fatal overdoses involving synthetic opioids and stimulants has surged in the past few years.

Gun violence remains rampant in the US. According to the Sunday report, there were 503 mass shootings and 45 school shootings in the US in 2024. In all, 40,000 Americans were killed by gun violence last year, including over 1,400 children. Meanwhile, police brutality — particularly against non-white ethnic minorities — persists in total disregard of human rights. African Americans, for instance, are three times more likely to be shot and killed by police than white Americans.

Worse, the human rights issues the US creates are not just restricted to its own territory.

While hyping up fabricated violations of the "human rights" of Uygurs and other ethnic minorities in China, particularly Muslim groups, the US administration pays no heed to the ugly role it is playing, both directly and indirectly, in the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The US is also the world's biggest user of unilateral sanctions. It has increasingly imposed them on some less-developed countries in recent years. More than 60 percent of low-income countries are now under some form of financial penalty imposed by the US, according to the report.

Under the collusion of power and capital, human rights have been distorted into mere props in a political "show" and bargaining chips in a power "casino", completely deviating from their core values and fundamental principles. As the report says, the tumultuous political stage of the US in 2024 acts as a prism, reflecting the structural dilemmas of US-style human rights.