China on Tuesday accused the United States of attacking its system and smearing its policies after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made comments "out of prejudice and arrogance" about the Tiananmen crackdown.
The furious reaction came after Pompeo, the day before the 30th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 bloodshed, said on Monday that Washington had lost hope for human rights progress in China.
A spokesperson for Beijing's embassy in Washington said in a statement that whoever attempts "to patronize and bully the Chinese people... will only end up in the ash heap of history."
The spokesperson said Pompeo had used "the pretext of human rights" for a statement that "grossly intervenes in China's internal affairs, attacks its system, and smears its domestic and foreign policies.
"This is an affront to the Chinese people and a serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to it." Beijing has gone to exhaustive lengths to prevent commemorations of the crackdown in which hundreds of unarmed civilians, and possibly more than 1,000, were killed when China sent tanks and troops into Tiananmen Square to crush a student-led movement.
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