Readers applaud Xi's discourses on protection of human rights

Progress achieved due to leadership of CPC, Chinese socialist system, senior official says

A book with extracts from President Xi Jinping's discourses on respecting and protecting human rights demonstrates how China conducts its people-centered approach to human rights protection with solid actions, officials and experts have said.

It also provides guidance for a wide range of developing countries to find their own paths toward human rights protection according to their own domestic conditions, they added.

"Only the people have the right to judge a country's progress on human rights protection," said Jiang Jianguo, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

By always putting people first, China has achieved long-term economic development and social stability over the years, and its people are satisfied with the achievements, Jiang said on Tuesday at a meeting where Chinese and foreign readers shared their views on the book.

"China's human rights progress is due to the leadership of the CPC and the advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics," he said.

"But the United States and some other Western countries are obviously dissatisfied with China's approach and even attempted to deny it and used the human rights issue as an excuse to interfere in China's domestic issues," he said.

However, Jiang said that the concept of human rights boasted about by Western countries, including the United States, is centered on the needs of the capitalist system, and has little regard for people's lives and health, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gregory W. Adedigba from Nigeria, a researcher at the CGTN Think Tank, said that the book provides a solid framework for approaching human rights issues for anyone intending to understand why developing countries tend to be dismissive of charges of human rights abuses frequently leveled against them.

"China's critics, and indeed, those of many developing countries would benefit from reading this book because it presents the case for respecting the unique cultural, historical and economic realities of every nation in their pursuit of human rights," he said.

The book, published this month, includes 335 discourses extracted from over 160 reports, speeches, congratulatory letters and instructions by Xi.

The discourses date from Nov 15,2012 to Oct 30, 2021, and many of them are published for the first time.

The book will also be published in foreign languages, including English, Russian, French and Japanese.

Sound bites

The key discourses of President Xi Jinping on respecting and protecting human rights are profound in dissertation, rich in content and deeply thoughtful. They display the Communist Party of China's values in adhering to the people-centered philosophy and its original aspirations to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. They also display the Party's adherence to an independent path of political and human rights development that suits its national conditions.

Huang Yibing, deputy head of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee

Xi's discourses on respecting and protecting human rights showed his global vision to build a community with a shared future for mankind. They also provide the Chinese wisdom and proposals for promoting global human rights governance and development.

Tang Xianwen, director of the Human Rights Affairs Bureau of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee

At a time when the United States and other Western countries are politicizing human rights issues to smear and suppress China, the book of Xi's discourses on safeguarding human rights points out the direction for China's international communication work by explaining China's people-centered human rights philosophy in a systematic way.

Ouyang Qianxi, reporter with China Global Television Network

The right to development of each nation is critical to the achievement and security of other human rights. Without the guarantee of individual economic rights, it remains difficult to make any meaningful gains in the advancement of other aspects of human rights. For instance, the total eradication of absolute poverty must be seen as an urgent and pressing human rights issue. And countries that prioritize tackling poverty above all else, as a first step toward the full realization of other rights, ought to be commended rather than vilified.

Gregory W. Adedigba, researcher at the CGTN Think Tank

Many discourses on human rights protection now are only abstract theories without discussion of specific actions. Through the book of Xi's discourses on safeguarding human rights, people can see how China has respected and protected the Chinese people's human rights in various fields, from poverty elimination to COVID-19 prevention, with feasible and solid measures.

Meng Tao, associate professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China

China's journey and China's dedication toward uplifting human rights and human experience deeply resonate with countries in the world that have yet to find their path. And the irony is that China, the country that has delivered the absolute most in protecting human rights and enhancing possibilities for the people of China, is criticized by hypocritical countries that have not delivered domestically but have destroyed the living conditions for millions.

Zoon Ahmed Khan, research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization

From different responses to COVID-19, people can see that the Western political systems are weak at making decisions and lack long-term policies. On the contrary, the CPC shows a strong ability to guarantee people's human rights, especially the right to live.

Shang Haiming, associate professor of the Human Rights Research Institute of Southwest University of Political Science and Law

China is a builder, defender and contributor to the world's human rights progress by realizing the basic human rights for the Chinese people in several decades and providing them with solid institutional guarantees for rights in such areas as politics, the economy, culture and environment.

Wang Huiru, legal researcher at Beijing Institute of Technology