Published by: World Tibet Network News, 96/03/29

BEIJING, March 28 (Reuter) - China assailed the United States on Thursday for criticising its human rights record and religious and legal policies.

U.S. criticism of Chinese policies on religion, law and Tibet was illogical, hypocritical and ill-informed, China's State Council, or cabinet, said in a commentary, the latest in a series of denunciations aimed at China's critics in the West.

Washington wanted to "vilify China, damage its stability, hold back its development, and then change the road for development," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the commentary as saying

The commentary said a crackdown on fringe religious groups criticised by a U.S. report on human rights on March 5 was in fact part of a battle against criminal "doomsday cults" out to destroy the state.

"These sects are not religious organisations, but are, in fact, similar to 'doomsday cults' that have existed in the United States, Japan, and other countries," it said.

"The United States itself has cracked down on 'doomsday cults' in an extreme way," said the commentary.

It said the U.S. report was based on ridiculous logic: "That 'respect for human rights' meant to tolerate those people opposed to China's legal government and Chinese Communist Party leadership."

The commentary also dismissed persistent western allegations that Chinese settlers had been encouraged to move to Tibet to dilute the ethnic Tibetan population in the restive Himalayan region.

It said only a few trained Chinese workers went to Tibet to help develop the economy.

The State Council attacked Washington's own record on minorities. "The U.S. government implements a racial segregation policy towards the Indians and pens them inside reserves, with the result that they live in chronic poverty and backwardness," it said. "That is the real infringement of human rights."

Beijing has come under repeated fire for its policies in Tibet. A report by two Western human rights groups this week accused China of widespread torture and abuse of prisoners and of cracking down on freedom of religion.

In a report in early March, independent watchdog Amnesty International said Beijing often accused critics of exploiting human rights issues for political ends.

"Such accusations, however, do nothing to mitigate China's own record and suggest that the authorities are seeking to avoid responsibility for their own behaviour," Amnesty said.

Human rights is only one of a number of issues troubling Sino-U.S. ties. Trade disputes, accusations that it is soft on copyright piracy and Beijing's recent sabre-rattling toward Taiwan have all prompted undiplomatic exchanges.

China raised the Taiwan issue to the level of conspiracy at a Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing on Thursday.

"Naturally there are a few people who don't wish to see China's economic development and don't wish to see China become big and strong," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang.

Washington would never see China's achievements while the Communist Party still ruled, the State Council commentary said.

"The United States will turn a deaf ear and keep their eyes closed to China's social and economic development...as long as China remains a communist party-led socialist country," it said.