China has protested the United States over the latest statements by US Vice President Mike Pence regarding China’s domestic and foreign policies, the situation in Hong Kong, and respect for human rights in China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a briefing on Friday.
Speaking in Washington on Thursday, Pence said the United States did not want a confrontation with China, but was looking for cooperation on a number of issues, including economics, arms control, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and compliance with sanctions against Iran. At the same time, he again recalled that the United States sees China as a strategic and economic rival, he also expressed support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
“Vice President Mike Pence yesterday made a speech full of criticism of China’s social system, the situation with human rights and religious freedoms, domestic and foreign policy of China. The statement of the us Vice President is full of prejudice and lies, political prejudice and arrogance, to which China expresses dissatisfaction and strong protest”, – the diplomat said.
She added that the Chinese people are fully confident and support the country’s chosen development path, and no force can stop China from moving forward.
“The affairs of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang are exclusively an internal affair of China, which does not tolerate any foreign interference. And a small group of American politicians are trying to distort the facts and slander China, interfere in the internal affairs of China”, – she said.
Hua Chunying emphasized that these American politicians aim to impede the further development of China.
The diplomat emphasized that 200 million believers live in China, 20 million of whom are Muslims, “representatives of all ethnic groups enjoy freedom of religion”.
According to her, US officials are trying in this way to hide the problems that are in the United States itself, including situations in prisons, cases of street shooting, a problem with weapons, racial discrimination, withdrawal from international agreements, excessive use of force.