China demands U.S. revoke sanctions on Chinese officials

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday demanded that the United States immediately revoke sanctions imposed against Chinese officials for so-called human rights violations, warning that otherwise the U.S. will face reciprocal countermeasures from China.

"The U.S. statement is full of ideological bias and political lies, discrediting China and suppressing Chinese officials for no reason. What the United States has done violates international law and norms, and grossly interferes in China's internal affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular news briefing.

China is firmly opposed to this, Wang said.

"The worst human rights violator in the world is the United States itself," Wang said, noting that it should repent for butchering the Native Americans and reducing their population to 250,000 at the beginning of the 20th century from 5 million in the late 15th century.

In the face of nearly 1 million COVID-19 deaths, over 40,000 gun violence victims each year, and tens of thousands of victims of racial discrimination, the United States should reflect on its own human rights deficit, Wang said.

The spokesperson added that the United States should beg for forgiveness from the international community for waging war in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan and causing 330,000 civilian deaths and over 26 million refugees, rather than lecturing others on human rights.

He urged the United States to face up to and resolve its own systemic and chronic human rights problems, instead of undermining the human rights of other countries in the name of protecting human rights.

"If the United States ceases being a lecturer of human rights, the situation of human rights in the world will be better," Wang said.