Source: Xinhua Net
Beijing, 15 Sep (Xinhua) -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on 15 September that the United States has instigated war with false intelligence, wantonly killed civilians in the name of counter-terrorism, and vigorously imposed unilateral sanctions to bring deep disasters to the survival and development of the local people, and committed serious human rights crimes overseas.
At a regular press conference on the same day, a reporter asked: According to reports, in the past 20 years, the United States has launched more than 90,000 air strikes in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, and the highest number of civilians killed in air strikes may reach 48,000. What is China's comment on this?
Zhao Lijian said that the United States has committed serious human rights crimes overseas. The United States instigated war with false intelligence, causing a tragic human rights disaster. The United States launched the Iraq war with a small bottle of washing powder as "evidence" for chemical weapons, and used the "White Helmets" group posed a video as "evidence" to airstrike Syria. In its more than 240-year history, the United States has only been at war for 16 years. From the end of World War II to 2001, there were 248 armed conflicts in 153 parts of the world, of which the United States initiated 201. Since 2001, the United States has illegally waged wars and military operations that have killed more than 800,000 people and displaced tens of millions.
Zhao Lijian said that the United States has wantonly killed civilians in the name of counter-terrorism and owed a heavy blood debt. Since 2001, about 335,000 civilians have been killed in wars waged in the United States. Just before withdrawing from Afghanistan, U.S. forces carried out an airstrike on a civilian home on counterterrorism grounds, killing 10 civilians, including a 2-year-old child. In the 2005 incident in the Iraqi town of Hadisa, which shocked the world, the US military went on a killing spree because of the attack on one person, shooting indiscriminately and killing 24 Iraqi civilians, including the elderly, women and young children, and their brutality and bloodshed were heinous. In 2017, the United States launched the so-called "most accurate air strike" on Raqqa, Syria, resulting in the loss of a large number of civilians. A former U.S. soldier said the drone attack by the U.S. military was purely "killing for the sake of killing."
Zhao Lijian said: The United States has vigorously imposed unilateral sanctions, seriously endangering the human rights of the people of relevant countries. Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the use of unilateral coercive measures by the United States has not decreased, but has increased, resulting in shortages of epidemic prevention materials in Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and other sanctioned countries, insufficient food supplies, limited access to education and information, and obstruction of humanitarian assistance. These unilateral coercive measures, which are not authorized by the UN Security Council, have brought deep disasters to the survival and development of the local people.
He said that the facts are overwhelming, and justice is in the hearts of the people. "What is ridiculous is that the United States has always played the banner of 'protecting human rights.'" When the United States launches a war of aggression, what human rights are being protected? What human rights are protected when U.S. forces shoot and drop bombs on civilians? When the United States wields the stick of sanctions, what human rights are being protected? ”