China criticises US secret prisons

China today criticised the United States for using secret CIA-run prisons and tough interrogation tactics in its fight against terrorism.

“China advocates … that anti-terror efforts should observe the principle of the UN charter and the basic norms governing international relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular briefing.

US President George Bush has acknowledged for the first time the existence of the CIA prisons outside the US.

He also said 14 suspects had been turned over to the Defence Department and moved to the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for trial.

They include the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks and architects of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.