The US dropped China from its list of the world's worst human rights violaters, but added Syria, Uzbekistan and Sudan to the alleged offenders in an annual report released Tuesday.
The State Department's 2007 Human Rights Report showed China, which has raised hopes it will improve human rights by hosting the 2008 Olympics, had parted company with countries like North Korea, Myanmar and Iran.
No reason was given for removing China -- which has been a key partner in talks with Washington to denuclearize North Korea -- from the list but the new report said China's "overall human rights record remained poor" in 2007.
