China strongly opposes the United States government's criticisms of human rights in China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing on Sunday.

Qin was responding to a statement made by the US State Department spokesman on Saturday, International Human Rights Day, in which the US criticized China's human rights situation.

Qin said China has scored remarkable achievements in human rights protection. The Chinese people fully enjoy human rights and freedom according to law.

"The Chinese government and people are firmly opposed to these criticisms," Qin said.

Qin added that the US has its own problems of human rights violations. Further, the US has been criticized by the international community for refusing to submit to investigations by the UN Human Rights Commission's special rapporteur. 

"In spite of this, the US government continues to hold itself out as human rights guard, often criticizing other countries' human rights 'problems' in an attempt to distract attention away from its own situation," Qin said.

"But people are aware of these political tricks, and what the US has actually done is the exact opposite," he added.

"As the year is drawing to an end, we suggest the US take a clear consideration of the situation and conduct a self-reflection on its own human rights problems," Qin said.

Qin added: "The US government is well advised to give up its double standards on human rights and its practice of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries on the pretext of human rights."

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour implicitly criticized the US on Wednesday for violating the global ban on torture, saying the absolute ban on torture is becoming a casualty of the so-called "war on terror" through loosened legal definition, secret detention, hand-over of prisoners without adequate safeguards and other similar practices.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2005)