China's annual "two sessions," a major political event that brings together some 5,000 national lawmakers and political advisors in Beijing, will convene this week.
The fourth sessions of the 13th National People's Congress and the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which will open on Friday and Thursday respectively, will offer a glimpse of how China protects and promotes human rights.
President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has spoken of human rights on multiple occasions. The following are some highlights:
— The ultimate human right is that people can lead a happy life. Since the first day of its founding in 1921, the CPC has fully committed itself to the wellbeing of the Chinese people and human development.
— China regards development as the key to solving all problems and the primary task for the CPC in governing and rejuvenating the country.
— China insists on a combination of the principle of human rights' universality and the nation's actual conditions, and insists that the rights to subsistence and development are primary basic human rights.
— For years China has put the people first during its development, increasing their benefits, ensuring the people are their own masters and supporting development in an all-round way. These are both the starting points and the goals of development. China has effectively safeguarded the people's right to development and carved out a human rights development path with Chinese characteristics.
— The Chinese people would like to work in concert with people in other developing countries and beyond to advance development through cooperation, promote human rights through development, and build a community with a shared future for humanity.
— There is no universal path to human rights development in the world. In terms of human rights protection, there is no best way, only the better one.
— Chinese people will not accept "an instructor" on human rights and oppose "double standards."
