Chinese political advisors in their annual full meeting slashed on Friday a U.S. State Department report criticizing human rights conditions in China, calling it "totally unfounded," "ideology-oriented" and "a fresh example of Washington's double standards on human rights."

"The United States, a self-proclaimed 'human rights judge,' hasonce again pointed its fingers at others while totally ignoring its own problems," said Zhao Qizheng, a member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body, at a panel discussion on Friday.

The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2005, issued by Washington on Wednesday and involving more than 190 countries and regions including China, are full of "arbitrary charges and unreasonable words," said Zhao, former minister in charge of the Information Office of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet.

Zhao said that China has been forced to make a counter-report about the human rights record of the United States since 1997. Thelatest version of the report, the seventh in a row over the past years, was published on Thursday.

Sidney Shapiro, a former U.S. citizen born in New York and a leading translator in China's literary circle, said that there is actually nothing for Washington to brag about its democratic system.

"Democracy in America, which was won by the public through long-time struggle, had started going downhill in the 20th century. In the States today, the intelligence agencies have even got the power to tap the citizens' phone calls and inquire out what books a person is borrowing from the library," said the 91-year-old Shapiro, a veteran CPPCC member.

"And I think most Americans won't believe what the State Department said in its report about China's human rights situation," he added.

According to Yang Zhengquan, another CPPCC member who is also executive vice president of the China Human Rights Development Foundation, the U.S. criticism on China has nothing to do with human rights, but aims at "undermining China's socialist system."

"It's nothing but dirty politics, which is totally ideology-oriented," he said. "The United States is attempting to achieve its political goals under the pretext of human rights."

Citing U.S. military personnel's abuse of prisoners of war in Iraq and the U.S. State Department's deliberate avoidance of mentioning such scandals in its human rights reports of the previous years, Yang said that Washington has always exercised double standards in the field of human rights.

Advisor Chang Cheng echoed Yang's opinion, saying that Washington has long ignored the constant progress of human rights in China.

He said that this year the Chinese government announced severalmajor preferential policies to promote rural development, which will bring about substantial benefits for the country's 900 million farmers.

"These policies will help better guarantee the farmers' right to subsistence and development, which we believe is the primary right for every human being. Why did Washington once again turn a blind eye to this major human rights progress in China?" Chang asked.

Source: Xinhua