U.S. interventions cause humanitarian disasters, China says

China accused the U.S. of causing humanitarian disasters through foreign military interventions in a report Friday that was the latest broadside by Beijing in contentious relations with the Biden administration.

The report from the government-backed China Society for Human Rights Studies said foreign wars launched under the banner of “humanitarian intervention” have not only cost the belligerent parties a large number of military lives but also caused serious civilian casualties and property damage, leading to horrific humanitarian disasters.

“The selfishness and hypocrisy of the United States have also been fully exposed through these foreign wars,” said the report, which cited a list of what it called U.S. aggression, from its intervention in Greece in 1947 to its opposition to the Venezuelan government in 2019. It cited conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as major U.S. wars.

“Choosing to use force irrespective of the consequences reveals the hegemonic aspirations of the United States,” the report said.

Relations between Washington and Beijing have been fractious over U.S. support for Taiwan and sanctions over Chinese polices including in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and U.S. calls for more candor from Beijing about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic have further roiled ties.

There have been no major changes on the issues since President

Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump. Congress, meanwhile, is preparing to take up legislation that would underscore the competition with Beijing in foreign affairs, trade and other fields.

Asked Thursday about that pending legislation, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the administration has been “heartened that there is a good deal of bipartisan agreement when it comes to how we should and could approach the government in Beijing.”

China has struck back with heated rhetoric and visa bans against U.S. officials and others it deems to have damaged its interests through their criticism of Beijing’s human rights record.