Q: Recently, the US State Department released "2008 International Religious Freedom Report". The report continues to accuse China of its religious policies and status of religious freedom. Do you have any comment?

A: The so-called "2008 International Religious Freedom Report" released by the US State Department groundlessly accuses China of its religious and ethnic policies. It is a violation of the basic norms governing international relations and interference of China's internal affairs. We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to it.

The Chinese Government protects its citizens' freedom of religious belief in accordance with law. People of various ethnicities in all parts of China enjoy full freedom of religious belief in accordance with law. Any attempt to distort this fact will get nowhere.

We strongly urge the US to correct the erroneous and unbridled practice of criticizing the religious affairs of other countries, stop releasing the above-mentioned report and refrains from interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of religious issues.