BEIJING — China said on Wednesday a U.S. report that accused Beijing of persecuting people for their religious faith and practices was a "fabrication."
The criticism of China's treatment of Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong spiritual practitioners and members of unregistered groups came in the second annual report on religious freedom written by the U.S. State Department by order of lawmakers.
"This blatantly interferes in China's internal affairs," state radio quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi as saying.
"Through fabrication and twisting facts, this report attacks China's religious policy and freedom," he said.
Beijing's crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement provoked some of the harshest criticism in the report, mandated by the U.S. Congress under a 1998 law that gave the government a variety of punishment options, including sanctions.
Last year, the U.S. government chose not to impose additional sanctions on countries it designated as being of particular concern for their religious intolerance — China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar and Sudan.
Sun said China protected religious freedom and urged the United States to correct its report, but he made no specific demands.
"The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and opposition and demands the United States immediately stop and correct its mistaken action," he said.
The report said the Chinese government's respect for religious freedom had deteriorated during the past year as the authorities imposed new restrictions, closed houses of worship and actively persecuted members of some unregistered groups.
China banned Falun Gong and declared it an "evil cult" after its members staged a bold protest in Beijing in 1999.
China also laid criminal charges against 85 members of a banned Christian church who were detained last week, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Monday.
The State Department report said a "patriotic education" campaign to weed out monks and nuns sympathetic to the Dalai Lama — Tibet's exiled spiritual leader — continued, including detentions for peaceful protests.