Op-Ed Contributors

View China objectively

By Wu Hongbo (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-06 07:59
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China is well aware of the difficulties and challenges ahead and is making active efforts to explore a development model suited to its national conditions. While sharing the country's economic fruit, Chinese people are also enjoying unprecedented freedoms and rights. The country has laid down a well-developed legal infrastructure to guarantee freedom of speech for its citizens.

However, it is China's long-cherished stance that there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech and that any speech should conform to the country's laws. For instance, remarks aimed at publicizing or spreading Nazism and those antagonizing Jewish sentiment are also prohibited in Germany.

With a population of 400 million netizens and 220 million bloggers, opinions have always remained particularly active on the Internet, some of which hold a critical attitude toward the government. The Chinese government has long paid high attention to various kinds of criticisms and proposals, especially those over the Internet.

It is the whole world's common aspiration to promote progress on human rights. Like their counterparts in the rest of the world, the Chinese government has long thrown its weight behind its people's pursuit of democracy and human rights and made remarkable progresses in promoting people's human rights.

It is the Chinese government's proposal that human rights include not only political rights, but also economic, social and cultural rights and that rights for subsistence and development serve as the primary human rights for a developing nation.

There does not exist a political model in the world that is viable to all countries. Western countries' failure to transplant their political models to developing countries after World War II is also testimony that any political system and development model can only be built on certain national conditions. It is China's stated position that the world should have diversified development models and that every country's desire to choose its own development path according to its own national conditions should be respected.

A developing country with a 1.3-billion population, China will make a huge contribution to the world if it can handle well its domestic issues. At the most difficult time of the global financial crisis, the Chinese government adhered to cooperation with other countries to tackle the crisis.

As an important player in the international arena, China has actively participated in UN efforts for the settlement of some international hot button issues and has played an active role in promoting the handling of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and Iran. It has also made its deserved contribution on climate change and greenhouse gas emission reduction.

An open China has drawn more and more attention from foreign media. We welcome all opinion and proposals expressed in good faith, including critical opinion about our shortcomings.

But it is hoped that the Western media, including Germany's media, will look at and cover the ancient and booming Asian nation in the true journalistic perspective and in an objective and impartial manner.

The author is China's ambassador in Germany.

(China Daily 07/06/2010 page8)

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