US eases criticism of China over human rights

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The US has dropped China from its list of the world's worst human rights violators, amid global moves to pressure Beijing into improving its record ahead of the Olympics in August. China was labelled as one of the worst offenders by the State Department in 2005 and 2006.

But this year it is classed as an authoritarian country which is undergoing rapid economic and social change, whose rights record must improve: "If you look at the introduction of the report, it describes China, that its human rights record remained poor, it describes how controls were tightened in some areas in China, particularly regarding religious freedoms at Tibetan areas and in the Xinjiang autonomous region," said a spokesperson for the State Department.

Syria, accused by Washington of supporting terrorism, has been added to the list of the top ten offenders for the first time, along with Uzbekistan and Sudan.

However, Washington reserved its strongest criticism for Russia, accusing the government in Moscow of corruption and electoral abuses.

The report itself does not formally review the human rights record of the US.

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