Recent sanctions the United States has levied against high-tech Chinese companies are a blatant attempt to suppress these enterprises in the name of human rights, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday, noting that the move has again revealed the United States' true intention of depriving the Chinese people of their right to development.
Mao made the remarks at a regular press briefing in response to the U.S. Commerce Department's addition of two high-tech Chinese companies to its "Entity List" for "human rights violations."
"Protecting human rights is just a pretext they are using to advance their objective. Such schemes will not succeed," Mao said.
She noted that if the United States truly cares about human rights, it should address its own human rights deficit first, rather than politicizing and weaponizing human rights issues to harm the interests and meddle in the internal affairs of other countries.