Recently, a few people in the international community have made unreasonable comments on China's human rights situation and attacked China for no reason. Regardless of daily human rights violations around the world and the serious human rights violations in their own countries, they use double standards and selectivity to falsely attack China on human rights. They are unwilling to accept China’s rise with its own development model, and unwilling to accept China's development achievements. They always measure right and wrong as they wish to be and ask other countries to follow suit and listen to them. These actions prove that they are still stubbornly adhering to a deep-rooted prejudice, the "cold war" thinking, using human rights as a tool to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, trigger political unrest and attack countries with different development paths.
Firstly, the history of China's independence and liberation over the past 100 years and its economic and social take-off is an irrefutable evidence of China's human rights development.
The Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, defeated the internal and external enemies, and eventually took charge of their own affairs. The system of the People's Congress enables the people to exercise their basic rights and decide the affairs of the state, the nation and the people. China was once fraught with wars, natural disasters, man-made disasters, starvation and people at large were barely made their ends. With difficulties at home and abroad, such as foreign invasions and poverty, Chinese people had lost their basic rights to subsistence, life and not to mention self-determination, the right to peace.
Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations stipulates that people have the right to self-determination. The people of a country enjoy the right of independence, liberation and self-determination, which is the basis of all human rights. With the skin gone, to what can the hair attach itself?
Over the recent 100 years, people’s enjoyment on human rights in China has emerged from scratch to a wide range. The birth of the People’s Republic of China, the rapid development of national economy and society, and the improvement of national strength and international prestige at home and abroad have provided a solid foundation for the enjoyment of human rights by all Chinese people. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese people are celebrating this great festival with joy.
Secondly, the Chinese people are witnesses to the development of the human rights situation in China.
Over the past 40 years since China's reform and opening up, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, have worked hard to build their own country and develop their national economy, which has led China to a fast track of rapid development and prosperity.
In December 2018, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the happy life of the Chinese people is the greatest human right. With the development of the national economy and the prosperity of the motherland, the level of industry, agriculture and science and technology has reached the forefront of the world, and the life of Chinese people has changed rapidly. In 2018, the per capita disposable income of Chinese residents reached 28,228 yuan RMB, a 24.3-fold increase over 1978. In the same period, the per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 39251 yuan RMB. The rapid development of economy and society has directly brought about the improvement of people's enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has been fully implemented, and women's rights, the rights of the disabled and children's rights have been guaranteed. Social security and insurance systems have been established in an all-round way to ensure the realization of the human rights of vulnerable groups and the development of employment, medical care and education. The people's lives are increasingly up-lifting.
The level of civil and political rights of the Chinese people is also constantly developing. The Communist Party of China regards "governing the country according to law in an all-round way" as one of the general strategies of governing the country and politics in the new period, which is to govern the country in accordance with the law reflecting the will of the people and the law of social development, and to strengthen the democracy and legal system of the country in an all-round way. In 2004, for the first time, China incorporated "the State respects and guarantees human rights" into its Constitution, reflecting China's determination to promote the development of human rights and providing legal and institutional guarantees and support for human rights protection. The electoral system has been continuously improved and the participation of the public has been deepened. The democratic system of political consultation has been developed and consolidated, playing an increasingly important role in people's lives.
China's development has never been smooth sailing. After unremitting exploration by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people as a whole, and overcoming all kinds of interference at home and abroad, we have finally found a correct and independent development path that is in line with China's national conditions. The Chinese people are developing their economy, building their country and striving for national rejuvenation. China's success provides the basis for the realization of the Chinese people's right to development, self-determination and collective human rights.
President Xi Jinping stressed that the times are developing and human rights are progressing. China adheres to the principle of universality of human rights and contemporary reality, follows the road of human rights development in line with national conditions, pursues the concept of people-centered human rights, regards the right to subsistence and development as the primary basic human rights, coordinates and promotes the economic, political, social, cultural and environmental rights of all the people, and strives to safeguard fairness and justice in the society, and promote the all-round development of people.
The Chinese people are the witnesses of China's human rights changes, and they have the most say in China's human rights situation.
Thirdly, the people of all countries who love peace and pursue justice pay tribute to China's development and the level of human rights enjoyment.
China is the largest developing country. The Chinese government has always attached great importance to poverty eradication, improving people's standard of living and achieving common prosperity as its governing purpose. China has solved the problem of food and clothing for more than 1.3 billion people and reduced the number of poor people by more than 700 million. In the past five years alone, China has lifted more than 680 million people out of poverty, accounting for more than 70% of the total number of people in poverty reduction worldwide. It has taken the lead in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of poor people and created a new miracle of human rights development in the world. China also strives to sum up its own development experience and carry out mutually beneficial and win-win South-South cooperation. These practices and achievements of the Chinese government have been widely praised by the international community.
In September 2018, at the Conference on "Eradicating Poverty and Realizing All Human Rights, including the Right to Development", held in Geneva, officials from Venezuela, Ecuador, Thailand, South Africa and Cuba pointed out that China, proceeding from its basic national conditions, put the people's right to subsistence and development first, and strived to safeguard and improve people's livelihood. A road to poverty alleviation and human rights with Chinese characteristics has been put forward. Poverty eradication and development play a fundamental role in the enjoyment of human rights by all peoples. They admire China's tremendous achievements in poverty eradication. Without China's contribution, the goal of sustainable development of the United Nations in 2030 would be difficult to achieve.
Over the past 70 years, China has improved various mechanisms for ensuring the legitimate rights of ethnic minority groups, and adopted targeted measures to create opportunities for the ethnic minority groups in pursuit of self-development and life goals. The ethnic autonomous regions enjoy the right of autonomy in extensive areas as prescribed by law, including autonomy in the fields of politics, the economy, education, science and technology, culture, and health. With the substantial support and investment from the central government, the economy of ethnic minority areas has experienced rapid growth. Take Tibet and Xinjiang as an example. Tibet’s GDP increased by about 192 times, from RMB 174 million in 1959 to RMB 147.76 billion in 2018. Xinjiang’s GDP has soared from RMB 3.9 billion in 1978 to RMB 1.22 trillion in 2018. The Chinese government has also taken a host of measures to protect citizen’s freedom of religious belief and safeguard their cultural rights and the right of all ethnic groups to use their own ethnic languages. For example, the state has established a database for the endangered languages of China’s ethnic minority groups, and provides bilingual education in ethnic minority areas, basically forming a bilingual education system.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government is firmly opposed to ethnic separatism, violent terrorist acts and interference from any external forces in ethnic minority areas. Since the 1990s, the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism inside and outside China have orchestrated and executed thousands of violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang. At the same time, the spread of religious extremist thoughts had stoked the terrorist rampage. The government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has taken a series of measures according to law to crack down on violent terrorist crimes on the one hand and actively explored preventive anti-terrorism and deradicalization measures on the other, including setting up vocational education and training centers. These efforts are effective and have won the sincere support of the people. The training centers are boarding schools or campus, which provide courses on the national common language, legal knowledge and professional skills that help the trainees to deradicalize. In July 2019, more than 50 ambassadors from Russia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Cuba etc. jointly wrote to the United Nations to support China's position on border-related issues. These countries come from Asia, Africa, Latin America and other continents, representing a population of nearly 2 billion, and of which 28 countries are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Many of these ambassadors have visited Xinjiang and witnessed the truth. They pointed out that people visiting Xinjiang generally expressed that what they saw and heard was totally different from what they heard from the West. Mr. Warrenkov, Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Affairs of the United Nations, visited Xinjiang, affirming the practice of the Chinese Government, commending Xinjiang's successful experience in preventing terrorism through de-radicalization, and believing that it should be promoted to all countries.
Fourthly, the UN human rights mechanism affirms and praises China's human rights progress.
The protection and promotion of human rights is a goal pursued by the international community and a cause fought by all peoples. In this process, equal-footed cooperation among countries is needed to support the efforts of the United Nations. China has always supported the human rights purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and actively participated in the activities of the United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the sessions of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, and played a catalytic role in them. China has participated in 25 international human rights conventions, and has submitted nearly 100 implementation reports to the monitoring mechanism of international human rights conventions, which comprehensively demonstrate the achievements made by the Chinese government and people in the protection of basic human rights. Over the past 30 years, China's implementation reports have been affirmed by international human rights mechanisms and praised by human rights experts from all walks of life. China's human rights reports were all successfully approved. Some human rights experts also believe that the attitude, practice and experience of the Chinese government are worth learning by all countries.
Although a few countries have used international human rights institutions to accuse and attack China for a certain period of time, it has not affected the Chinese government's positive attitude towards cooperation with the UN Human Rights Council. China has always welcomed scrutiny from the international society on China’s human rights situation with open heart. In recent years, China invited several UN human rights rapporteurs and special representatives to visit China. Several UN High Commissioners for Human Rights visited China and signed a memorandum of cooperation with China to carry out cooperation. Ms. Robinson, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has visited China seven times during her tenure.
In November 2018, the Chinese government accepted the third periodical review of the UN Human Rights Council and was recognized by the international community. During the deliberations, the Chinese delegation, led by Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng, frankly reported on the protection and enjoyment of human rights in China in the past few years, and panoramically answered more than 300 questions raised by 150 countries. China's development and progress in protecting human rights have been widely praised. Among the countries participating in the deliberations, more than 120 speakers expressed their support and appreciation for China's human rights achievements, which reached the highest level in history. All countries highly agree with the concept of human rights with Chinese characteristics and highly appreciate the reports and introductory speeches of the Chinese delegation. China expressed its commitment to work with all parties to promote multilateral human rights mechanisms to abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, to deal with human rights issues in an objective, fair and non-selective manner, and to promote the healthy development of international human rights through constructive dialogue and cooperation.
At the 4th Beijing Forum on Human Rights, Mr. Nevid Hanif, Director of Strategic Planning Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, also affirmed China's human rights situation, saying that it was unprecedented for China to free more than 150 million people from extreme poverty in such a short period of time and a great achievement in the cause of human rights in China.
President Xi Jinping once pointed out that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights formulated by the United Nations is a document of great significance in the history of human civilization and has exerted a profound influence on the development of human rights in the world. The Chinese people are willing to work with people of all countries to uphold the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, safeguard human dignity and rights, promote a more just, rational and inclusive global human rights governance, jointly build a community of human destiny and create a better future for the world.
