Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday that a report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom that accused China of imprisoning and torturing people based on their religion was ignorant and prejudiced. In a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry's website, Jiang said that the report was distorted in its attack on Chinese policy, and maintained that China protects its citizens' freedom of religion.

Last week, the Commission released its annual report on worldwide religious freedom. The report stated that "All religious groups in China face some restrictions, monitoring, and surveillance, however, and religious freedom conditions deteriorated for communities not affiliated with one of the seven government-approved religious organizations." Also last week, Chinese Human Rights Defenders criticized the Chinese government for continuing to persecute and intimidate human rights defenders such as lawyers, academics and journalists in a report issued on the anniversary of the 1919 May Fourth Movement.