Beijing - China on Thursday rejected as "interference" a US State Department report that said human rights worsened in China in 2008.

"The United States should examine its own human rights issues, stop calling itself a human rights guardian and (stop) interfering in other countries' domestic affairs by issuing human rights reports," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.

Ma said China "firmly opposes any country's interference in its internal affairs on the pretext of human rights."

The Chinese government "attaches importance to the protection and promotion of human rights" and was willing to hold dialogue on rights with other nations, he said.

Ma said China had achieved "steady development in economy and culture, fully guaranteed the people's freedom of religious beliefs, and continuously strengthened its legal system" since it began economic reforms 30 years ago.

The US report issued on Wednesday criticized China's policies toward ethnic groups and religious beliefs, and its judicial system.

It said China's human rights record in Tibetan areas "deteriorated severely" during 2008.

"Authorities continued to commit serious human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial detention, and house arrest," it said of China's Tibetan areas.

China also continued to monitor, harass and arrest political activists, journalists and lawyers, the State Department's annual human rights report said.

Among other countries, the report also faulted human rights practices in Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Syria and Russia. (dpa)