Black Eyed Peas Will.i.am says the band will play in China, despite calls for artists to boycott the country over its human rights record.

He called the recent crackdown in Tibet "messed up" but asked whether it was right to "punish a whole country", reports BBC News

"If America really wants to make a difference, it should stop importing China's products and pay back its debt," he declared.

previously played concerts in China in 2006, and are due to return in June this year.

"They have all this Chinese boycott stuff - they want to boycott the games but (why) do the people get punished when they have nothing to do with what's going on?" asked Will.i.am. "If you boycott China, when do they boycott America for what we're doing in Iraq?"