BEIJING (TIP): China has rejected a US move to downgrade it in the ranking of nations making significant efforts to control human trafficking, saying Washington’s assessment lacked objectivity. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said her country attached “great importance to fighting all crimes of trafficking”.

“We believe that the US side should take an objective and impartial view of China’s efforts and stop making unilateral or arbitrary judgements of China,” she said. In its report on human trafficking, the US drew attention to continuing cases of child and adult forced labour, and sex trafficking of women and girls.

But it acknowledged China had taken steps to raise awareness and work with international organizations. “Despite these modest signs of interest in anti-trafficking reforms, the Chinese government did not demonstrate significant efforts to comprehensively prohibit and punish all forms of trafficking and to prosecute traffickers,” the US report said.