China on Tuesday rejected the US accusation on China's religious policy and freedom, saying it "meddled in China's internal affairs".

"China is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed to the US accusation in its religious freedom report," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said in a statement.

Jiang's comments came in the wake of the US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report 2008, which was released last Friday.

"It made groundless criticism on China's religious policy and situation of religious freedom," Jiang said. "It violated the basic norms guiding international relations and interfered with China's internal affairs."

The spokesperson said the Chinese government protected the citizens' freedom of religious belief in accordance with laws and Chinese people of all ethnic groups enjoyed full freedom of religious belief according to laws.

"Anyone who distorts this fact is doomed to failure," Jiang said.

She demanded the US side stop making indiscreet remarks on other countries' religious affairs, stop releasing such reports and stop meddling in China's domestic affairs under the pretext of religion.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)