China, Russia slam US report

China and Russia yesterday attacked a US government report that accused them of failing to do enough to combat human trafficking, a finding that could trigger sanctions by Washington.
"We believe that the US side should take an objective and impartial view of China's efforts (in fighting human trafficking) and stop making unilateral or arbitrary judgements of China," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
"The Chinese government always attaches great importance to fighting all crimes of trafficking," she said.
Moscow was also furious at the US report, which it decried as politically motivated.
"As far as the application of unilateral sanctions against Russia is concerned... the very idea of raising this issue causes indignation," the foreign ministry's human rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov said in a statement.
The US State Department on Wednesday downgraded the two countries, as well as Uzbekistan, to the bottom of a table on human trafficking.
The three nations had languished for years on the "Tier 2 Watch List", having been granted past waivers amid promises to do better.
But under the terms of a 2008 law, they could no longer stay on the watch list and either had to move up a level or be downgraded. The new report took the latter step. President Barack Obama will determine whether to enact any sanctions against the three nations in September.