Heed concerns, Washington told

China hopes the US government will listen to the voices of US citizens and the international community calling for action after recent violent crimes targeting Asians and other minority groups in the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday.

“Such crimes against Asian people, including Chinese citizens, have occurred frequently, and these ugly acts of discrimination make people angry and sad,” he said.

He was commenting after the release on Tuesday of a report by advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate that pointed to a marked increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans — with women disproportionately affected.

“The chronic problem of racial discrimination in the US has not been solved for a long time, and it is far more than Asian Americans who are hurt,” he said.

The “Black Lives Matter” protest movement — which erupted after George Floyd, an African American, was killed by a white police officer on May 25 last year — spread across all 50 US states and shocked the international community. The United Nations’ Human Rights Council also strongly condemned the incident and violence against African Americans.

“We are deeply concerned as some politicians from the previous US government and some anti-China forces produce and spread lies and false information about China,” Zhao said. “They incite racism and hatred, condoning discrimination acts against Chinese citizens in the US, including Chinese students studying there.”

The US should take concrete measures to solve its own problems and earnestly protect the safety and legitimate rights of Chinese citizens in the US, he said.