China Calls U.N. Panel’s Criticism of Crackdown Brazen Interference

BEIJING —  China on Saturday rejected a resolution by a U.N. panel criticizing last June’s suppression of this country’s democracy movement, calling the resolution “illegal and null and void.”

“The resolution brazenly interfered in China’s internal affairs, attempting to exert pressure on China,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement reported by the official New China news agency.

The resolution, the first by a U.N. body criticizing China since the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, was approved Thursday in Geneva by the U.N. Subcommittee on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

Backed by Western nations and approved 15 to 9 by the panel, the resolution expressed “concern about the events” in China and “about their consequences in the field of human rights.” It also appealed for clemency for people detained in the crackdown.

A Foreign Ministry statement said that “only a very small number” of offenders had been punished for criminal offenses.

Official reports say at least 4,000 people have been arrested since the crackdown, but Western and Chinese sources place the number as high as 30,000 nationwide. Included are dozens of journalists, intellectuals and others detained without being charged.