AFP: China accuses Human Rights Watch of distortion (Excerpt)

12/12/0 4:40 (New York)

BEIJING, Dec 12 (AFP) - China Tuesday slammed a report by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), accusing the group of distorting the human rights situation in China and attempting to harm Sino-US relations.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said China expressed its "strong indignation" over the damning HRW report released last week ahead of Sunday's International Human Rights Day.

"The US-based Human Rights Watch ... has deliberately slandered and maliciously attacked the human rights situation in China by means of fabrication and distortion of the facts," said Zhang.

She said the real intention of the report was to "interfere in the internal affairs of China" and defame China under the pretext of human rights.

"This report has gone against the fundamental interests of China and the United States and the people of the two countries and is doomed to failure," she told a regular news briefing.

The HRW report said the human rights situation in China was deteriorating as the government's concern over growing social instability increased.

"China reacted to perceived threats with repression, control of information, and ideological campaigns," the report said.

"Chinese authorities struggled to gain control of the Internet,"it said, by issuing rules threatening web sites, chat rooms and Internet groups with closure if they posted undefined "state secrets" on the Web.

Meanwhile, curbs on traditional print media continued unabated, according to the report, which cited numerous examples.

HRW said the campaign to crush the Falungong spiritual movement continued, and was widened to target other similar meditation groups, such as the Zhong Gong movement.

......

Spokeswoman Zhang refused to comment on the specifics of the report.

But she said: "At present the human rights situation in China is at its best period in history, this is a fact acknowledged by the international community."