Washington uses the topic of human rights as a diplomatic instrument of pressure on countries that do not want to obey and yield, said Lin Songtian, head of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
According to him, human rights are not a monopoly or a privilege of the United States, but a common aspiration of all mankind.
The United States only cares about its own interests and hegemony, and not about human rights, Lin Songtian noted.
For decades, he said, the United States allegedly defended human rights in Asia, Africa and Latin America, but never took action to help any country successfully solve a development problem.
The United States only cares about capital and politics, protecting the human rights of the rich. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The wealth of the 50 richest people in the United States is equal to that of the poorest 165 million people, he said.
Lin Songtian added that in order to maintain its hegemony and serve selfish interests, Washington uses the topic of human rights as a diplomatic tool to suppress countries that do not want to obey and give in.
Since 1991, the US has unleashed wars in the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, and Syria, resulting in massive civilian casualties and numerous refugees. At the same time, the United States, under all sorts of pretexts, introduced unilateral sanctions against Cuba, Iran, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Syria, and other countries and has never cared about the rights to life, health, and the existence of people in these countries.
He noted that countries differ in history, civilization, and development, and their development in the field of human rights will certainly also be different.
The international community should maintain a spirit of mutual respect, treat each other as equals, seek common ground while maintaining differences and strive for common development, strengthen exchanges and cooperation on human rights, and promote overall progress, he added.
He noted that the international community must also strongly oppose double standards and the politicization of human rights.