The United States should take care of its own human rights deficit first and cease politicizing and weaponizing human rights issues, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
Mao was asked to comment on the U.S Commerce Department's move to add two Chinese high-tech companies to its "Entity List" for what it called "human rights violations."
"The so-called sanctions you mentioned are a blatant suppression of Chinese high-tech companies in the name of human rights. The move further reveals the U.S.'s true intention of depriving the Chinese people's right to development. Protecting human rights is just a pretext they use to advance that objective. Such schemes will not succeed," she said.
"If the U.S. truly cares about human rights, it should take care of its own human rights deficit first, rather than politicizing and weaponizing human rights issues to meddle in other countries' internal affairs and harm other countries' interests," said Mao.
China urges US to stop weaponizing human rights issues
China on Wednesday called on all parties concerned to take practical actions to jointly advance a comprehensive political process led and owned by the Yemeni people so as to seek a political solution to the Yemen issue.
The UN Security Council held a meeting on the situation in Yemen at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday to promote unified action to end the Yemen conflict amid escalating regional tensions and growing humanitarian crisis.
Speaking at the meeting, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Geng Shuang said that Israel and the Houthi group have been attacking each other, with Israel recently saying it was considering launching a new large-scale attack on Yemen, which is deeply worrying.
Geng also noted the rapid change in the situation in Syria, which brought new instability to the entire Middle East region, including Yemen and the Red Sea.
China once again calls on the Houthi group to stop attacking merchant ships of various countries in the Red Sea and maintain the safety of waterways. China also calls on all parties concerned to remain calm and restrained to prevent the escalation of tensions, Geng said.
"I would like to once again call on all parties concerned to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that may escalate the situation. I stress that Yemen's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected. I reiterate that the Yemen issue must ultimately be resolved politically. The current stagnation in the peace process is not in the long-term and fundamental interests of the Yemeni people. All parties should demonstrate political will, take practical actions, gradually build mutual trust, create conditions for restarting dialogue, and jointly advance a comprehensive political process led and owned by the Yemeni people," he said.
Other UN officials also noted that practical measures, including releasing hostages and transferring emergency relief fund, should be taken to prevent tension escalation.
Also at the meeting, Hans Grundberg, special envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, reported via video link that although three hostages arbitrarily detained in Yemen six months ago have been released, dozens are still not free, with some detainees having been held for up to a decade, and they should be released immediately and unconditionally.
Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said internal conflicts still hound Yemen, and the country faces escalating regional tensions, a deteriorating economy and threats to the safety of humanitarian workers of UN and other organizations.
Fletcher also noted an estimated 2.5 billion U.S. dollars are needed to reach 10.5 million people across Yemen.
China calls for concerted efforts to seek political solution to Yemen issue
