Confrontation on HR will lead nowhere

"Confrontation will lead to nowhere," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular briefing.

"We hope that people and officials in the United States government can pay more attention to the achievements the Chinese government has made."

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Liu was responding to the US House of Representatives' overwhelming approval of a resolution last week urging the government to propose a bill against China's human rights record in the UN Human Rights Commission, which opens in Geneva on March 15. "I think this is unreasonable," Liu said.

"The only right way is through dialogue and cooperation in terms of solving the differences in the human rights issue between the two countries."

The United States broke with tradition last year by not sponsoring such a resolution in a move analysts said was motivated by Washington's need for China's cooperation on the North Korean nuclear issue, the Iraq war and anti-terrorism.

But Washington accused Beijing of backsliding on its rights record as arrests of democracy activists and extrajudicial killings continued apace during 2003 in an annual assessment issued by US State Department last month.

Liu Tuesday argued China has made much progress in the past year.

"The Chinese government has been committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and basic freedom. We have made remarkable achievements which have been acknowledged by the world," Liu said.

He cited as evidence China's rapid economic development and the rising living standards of people, reflecting Beijing's definition of human rights as mostly about feeding, clothing and housing its people.

Liu also highlighted moves by the government last year to abolish the practice of arbitrary detentions by police, although police still routinely round up people they consider potential troublemakers without any evidence or judicial proceedings.