China tells off US ‘human rights judge’ after sanctions

BEIJING: China has urged the US not to set itself up as a “human rights judge” and denounced the US Treasury Department for punishing a Chinese public security official for alleged rights abuses.

Gao Yan was one of the targets of an executive order issued by US president Donald Trump on Wednesday blocking the property of foreigners involved in human rights abuses.

Gao had been in charge at Chaoyang Detention Centre in Beijing where a Chinese rights activist, Cao Shunli, was held and questioned before her death in hospital under police custody in March 2014. Rights groups say Cao was tortured and denied medical care.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China opposed the US using sanctions to target other countries’ citizens based on their own domestic laws.

“We urge the US to impartially and objectively look upon China’s human rights development and to stop acting as a so-called human rights judge,” she said, adding that China’s police maintain public security in accordance with law.

The head of the Russian republic of Chechnya and four other Russians and Chechens were also included on the list of individuals to be targeted under the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law which freezes the bank accounts of those targeted.

Hong Kong- based group Chinese Human Rights Defenders said they welcomed Gao being named, but regretted the inclusion of only a low-level Chinese official, calling for Fu Zhenghua, a deputy minister of public security, to be included.

“Other higher-level police officials, who had ‘command responsibility’ for Cao Shunli’s death in custody and for other incidents of torture and human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, continue to enjoy impunity,” they said.

Beijing regularly rejects foreign criticism of its human rights record, saying its people are best placed to judge the rights situation. – Reuters