China has slammed a US congressional report on human rights as interference in its internal affairs and urged Washington lawmakers to end their "irresponsible remarks."
The report issued in Washington, "ignores the facts and makes preposterous accusations on human rights, religion, Tibet, Hong Kong and other issues," foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in a statement released late Wednesday.
"It grossly interferes in China's internal affairs. We express our resolute opposition," he said in the statement on the ministry's website.
The report, released Tuesday, highlighted the repression of free religious belief and practice in China and sought improvements in human and labour rights, freedom of speech and the press and other civil liberties.
The Congressional Executive Commission on China also cited "recent backward-stepping policies designed to move Hong Kong away from the promised 'high degree of autonomy' and to delay developing the democratic institutions that most Hong Kong people support."
Kong denied such accusations, saying that the Chinese people enjoy "full human rights and basic freedoms," particularly since the country had embarked on economic and reform initiatives in recent years.
"We urge the US Congress and the committee members to address more their own domestic problems instead of always making wanton and irresponsible remarks on the affairs of other countries," he said.
"We demand that the US side end its interference in China's internal affairs and take effective measure to eliminate the negative impact of the report."
The US congressional panel monitoring human rights and legal reforms in China further urged President George W. Bush to press Beijing to allow a UN probe on torture in the country's prisons.
It urged Bush and Congress to pressure the Chinese government "to fulfill, without further delay, its longstanding commitment to allow an unconditional visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture."
After about a decade of discussions, China finally agreed to allow the first visit by rapporteur Theo van Boven in June this year but postponed it at the last minute, prompting criticism by human rights groups and others.
The congressional report said while efforts have been made to combat the practice of torture in the past year, "China lacks the public institutions necessary to monitor and expose law enforcement abuses."
In Van Boven's annual report released in March, the section on China was the longest, with more than 130 cases of reported torture and abuse.
Rights groups say Chinese police and security services commonly use torture for punishment and to obtain confessions and other information but Beijing has rejected the charges.