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REUTERS
GENEVA
China accused a United Nations human rights investigator on Thursday of overstepping his mandate and interfering with China's"judicial sovereignty" by raising the case of a high-profile activist detained after they met.
Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, made an official mission to China last August and included a plea for the release of lawyer Jiang Tianyong in his report to the UN Human Rights Council at a two-day debate.
Chinese diplomat Jiang Yingfeng told the Geneva forum that Alston's report was"objective and fair" but also rebuked him.
"The special rapporteur referenced certain human rights defenders in his report and in so doing he has overstepped his mandate and meddled with China's judicial sovereignty," Jiang said.
China's government would not tolerate any individual or group"using the banner of human rights" to cover up their activities, he added.
Alston had praised China for its"extraordinary achievement" of lifting up to 700 million out of rural poverty over the past 30 years, but said that inequality is"high and is rising".
He also decried the"very rapidly shrinking space for the expression of views that differ from those of the (Communist) Party" and made a"special plea for the Government to release human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, with whom I met in Beijing".
Chinese authorities formally charged Jiang with subversion of state power on Tuesday, after holding him incommunicado for six months.
