BEIJING/ WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS — China expressed regret on Wednesday over a US decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, with state media saying the image of the United States as a defender of rights was “on the verge of collapse”.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the decision to pull out of the council on Tuesday over what she said was chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform.

Rights group have criticized the decision as sending a message that the United States was turning a blind eye to abuses across the world.

“China expresses regret at the US decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular briefing.

“China will continue, working with all sides, to make its contribution to the healthy development of human rights around the world via constructive dialogue and cooperation,” he added.

Asked about US criticism of China’s rights record, Geng said the United States was ignoring the facts and that anyone who was without prejudice could see the enormous progress China had made on rights.

The official publication of China’s top anti-graft watchdog said in a commentary on Wednesday the US decision to leave the council “has put the American peoples’ boastful image of being a defender of human rights on the verge of collapse”.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China regularly rejects criticism of its human rights record and points to its success at lifting millions out of poverty.

But the ruling Communist Party brooks no political dissent and since President Xi Jinping took office dozens of rights lawyers and activists have been arrested or jailed in a crackdown activists say is worse than any in decades.

Beijing also releases an annual report lambasting the United States for its rights problems, invariably citing racism, political standards and gun violence.

Washington’s withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border.

The United States has long shielded its ally Israel at the United Nations. In citing what it says is bias against Israel, the administration of President Donald Trump could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a Middle East peace plan. Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem after recognizing it as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US policy.

The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled.

Rights groups have criticized the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy. Critics say this sends a message that the administration turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in some parts of the world.

“Given the state of human rights in today’s world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back,” Zeid said after Haley announced the US withdrawal. — Agencies