Pakistan called this decision by the United States arbitrary, its friend China also retaliated against the United States.

Islamabad / Beijing: Pakistan has rejected the US declaration as a State of Special Concern as being an arbitrary and selective assessment, saying it is completely out of touch with reality and casts serious doubts on the credibility of the exercise. The United States on Wednesday described several countries, including Pakistan, China, Iran, North Korea and Myanmar, as countries of particular concern over violations of religious freedom. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “I condemn Burma (Myanmar), the People’s Republic of China (China), Eritrea, Iran, the DPRK (Korea), Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan for institutionalizing the Religious freedom I declare that countries of particular concern engage in or tolerate violence and serious violations.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said declaring Pakistan a State of Special Concern is completely beyond reality and casts serious doubts on the credibility of the exercise. “That name does not promote religious freedom around the world,” he said.

At the same time, on Thursday, Dragon criticized China for placing it in the category of countries of concern over the violation of religious freedom. China also accused the United States of frequently using religious issues to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told Beijing media that China firmly opposes the unfounded allegations because it is defaming the country’s religious freedom. When asked about the US accusations, Zhao said, “The Chinese government protects the religious freedom of citizens in accordance with the law.” He said that China has about 200 million people who follow religious beliefs, more than 3.80 lakh of religious workers, 5,500 religious groups and more than 1.40 lakh of places for religious activities.