BEIJING , China ( CNN ) -- China 's foreign minister Wednesday rejected criticism of its human rights record , accusing the United States of `` clinging to a Cold War mentality '' and `` practicing double standards . '' Workers at the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Fast Railway , a key project associated with the Beijing Olympics . Yang Jiechi was responding to questions about a State Department report released a day earlier that characterized China 's human rights record as one of the most repressive in the world . The report was released five months before the Summer Olympic Games kickoff in Beijing . Although he chided the United States and other critics of its human rights record as `` making confrontation , '' Yang stressed that China is `` ready for dialogue with the United States , as long as it is done in an environment of respect and fairness . '' Despite rapid economic growth and social change in China , the report said the `` authoritarian '' Chinese government `` continues to deny their citizens basic human rights and fundamental freedoms . '' It also said there was an increase in forced relocations in Beijing , with people being thrown out of their homes to make way for Olympic projects . `` China 's overall human rights record remained poor in 2007 , '' it stated , citing tightening controls over religious freedom in Tibet and the Uyghur population . China announced Sunday that militants in Xinjiang 's Uyghur Autonomous Region had planned to carry out two terror attacks , including one targeting the Olympics set to begin on August 8 . China said it successfully thwarted both attacks . The autonomous region is home to about 19 million people , most of whom are Muslims and other minorities . Many of them oppose Beijing 's rule . The State Department report also said China has increased its efforts to `` control and censor the Internet , and the government tightened restrictions on freedom of speech and the domestic press '' and bloggers . It cited a 20 percent increase over 2006 in convictions of citizens under what it called China 's overly broad state security law that is often used to silence government critics . `` The government continued to monitor , harass , detain , arrest , and imprison journalists , writers , activists , and defense lawyers and their families , many of whom were seeking to exercise their rights under law , '' the report said . `` Individuals and groups , especially those deemed politically sensitive by the government , continued to face tight restrictions on their freedom to assemble , their freedom to practice religion , and their freedom to travel . '' The report , issued annually , surveys the human rights record of more than 190 countries around the world . In rolling out the report , Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said : `` No corner of the Earth is permanently condemned to tyranny . Change may take time , but change will come . '' E-mail to a friend . CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott in Washington and Beijing Bureau Chief Jaime FlorCruz contributed to this report .
China 's FM rejects U.S. attack on human rights record , says `` double standards . '' Yang Jiechi says China ready `` for dialogue with the United States '' U.S. State Dept . report comes five months before the Beijing Olympics . Report emphasized forced relocations , human rights abuses , control of Internet .