Here are the main points from a scathing document issued in April 2018 titled Human Rights Record of the United States in 2017. While the report is quite accurate in its description of the state of affairs, what is noteworthy is that it was issued by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. The report explains in its introduction why it was issued.

On April 20 local time, the State Department of the United States released its country reports on human rights practices for 2017,posing once again as “the guardian of human rights” and a self-styled “human rights judge.” It continued to point fingers and cast groundless blame on the domestic affairs and human rights condition in the world. However, looking back on the year 2017, even those with the slightest sense of righteousness will find that the human rights record of the United States itself remained tarnished and showed a continued deteriorating tendency.

The document contains six sections laying out its charge of hypocrisy. I give below just the title and opening paragraph of each and have omitted the detailed docmentation that followed.

I. Serious Infringement on Civil Rights

Violent crime was on the rise in the United States, the government exercised no effective control over guns which caused continuous growth of gun incidents, power abuse by American police sparked mass protests, and government surveillance infringed individual privacy. As a result, civil rights of the American people, especially the right to life and freedom, were seriously threated.

II. Systematic racial discrimination aggravates social split

The existing problems of racial discrimination in the United States have not been eased, but racial relations continue to worse. Social antagonism has been intensified and racial conflicts frequently occurred.

III. Severe flaws in American-style democracy

Money politics in the United States has gone further in 2017, as the wealthy groups controlled the political development; the disadvantaged groups faced more barriers in voting; and continuous scandals of political figures happened.

IV. Rich-Poor Divide Continues Widening

The rich-poor divide expanded in the United States, reporting an increasing number of homeless people. Drugs and banned substances were abused, and people in poverty lived in miserable conditions. “The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion” said the independent human rights expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to look at poverty and human rights in countries around the world. (www.guardian.com, December 15, 2017)

V. Special Groups Suffer Discrimination and Physical Assault

American women faced obvious discrimination on employment and career development. The poverty, health and safety problems of children were worrisome, Persons with disabilities suffered from violent victimization. Rampant sex harassment and infringement contributed to a swarm of protests.

VI. Continued Violations of Human Rights in Other Countries

The US-led military operations in other countries have caused heavy civilian casualties. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp continued to detain and torture foreigners. The United State also made cyber warfare tools, hacking and spying foreign networks.

So we have China castigating the human rights record of the US. while the US castigates the human rights record of other countries. What you hear is the sound of shattering as the glass houses of the two nations are destroyed by the stones thrown by each at the other.