GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: China is attacking a U.S. campaign of censure at Beijing before the United Nations Human Rights Commission. At issue: China's treatment of political dissidents and religious groups. CNN's Beijing bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon has our report.</s>REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Beijing is angered by Washington's plans to criticize China's human rights record.</s>ZHU BANGZAO, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): The Chinese government and people express their strong anger and resolute opposition to this. The level of basic human rights and freedoms enjoyed by the Chinese people has reached an unprecedented level.</s>MACKINNON: But Washington points to the ongoing crackdown against the Falun Gong spiritual group, continued arrests of political dissidents, and restrictions on the practice of religious beliefs as grounds for international condemnation. Beijing disagrees.</s>BANGZAO (through translator): Dialogue should be conducted on the basis of equality and mutual understanding. History has proved that opposition to each other is not the right way to deal with these matters. We hope the Americans correct their wrong decision immediately.</s>MACKINNON: This latest spat comes amid growing public concern in the U.S. for the plight of jailed librarian Song Yongyi, a Chinese citizen and long-time U.S. resident. His colleagues at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania have launched a worldwide Internet petition drive to protest his detention in August, while in China conducting historical research. Chinese authorities say he is charged with collecting intelligence for people outside China, but his wife insists he was only collecting 30-year-old newspapers for a book on Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution. So far, he has not been given access to a lawyer. Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Beijing.
Beijing Angered by Washington's Plans to Criticize China's Human Rights Record