Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry

The US has long illegally occupied part of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, engaging in arbitrary detention and torture at Guantanamo prison, violating international law and harming Cuba's sovereignty, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Friday regarding recent US detainee transfers out of Guantanamo prison.

The international community, including the United Nations, has repeatedly expressed concern over this issue, calling for the US to close Guantanamo prison and provide justice to the detainees. The US has repeatedly gone back on its word regarding the closure of this American-style concentration camp, further eroding the US' proclaimed standards of human rights, the spokesperson said.

The US has moved detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay to Kenya and Malaysia, the Pentagon announced this week, CNN reported. 

There are 29 prisoners still detained at Guantánamo Bay, according to US Department of Defense.

Lin further stated that Guantanamo prison is a long-standing wound for Cuba and concrete evidence of over a century of illegal US interference in Cuba. While arbitrarily detaining individuals at Guantanamo, it also places Cuba on its so-called "state sponsors of terrorism" list. The international community clearly sees the hypocrisy of this double standard.

China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding its sovereignty and dignity, and opposes US interference in Cuba's internal affairs, Lin added, urging the US to end its illegal occupation, lift its blockade, close Guantanamo prison, withdraw from the base, return the land to Cuba, and remove Cuba from its "state sponsors of terrorism" list.

Global Times