China swipes back at U.S. in annual rights report

A Paramilitary soldier walks underneath red flags on the Tiananmen square next to the Great Hall of the People where the Chinese Communist Party plenum is being held in Beijing, November 12, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Friday accused the United States of widespread human rights abuses, including cyber-surveillance and child labour, in Beijing's annual rebuttal of Washington's criticism of its rights record.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world's two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the U.S. imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.