China Criticizes Locke’s Human-Rights Comments
BY BRIAN SPEGELE
BEIJING—China on Tuesday sharply criticized comments by the U.S. ambassador to Beijing that China’s human-rights record is deteriorating, adding to tensions between the two nations ahead of a sensitive visit by China’s likely next president.
U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke told television interviewer Charlie Rose in an interview that aired on Monday that China is significantly cracking down on dissent, according to the Associated Press. He said Chinese leaders were afraid they could face uprisings similar to last year’s Arab Spring.
The human-rights climate “has always ebbed and flowed in China, up and down, but we seem to be in a …