Foreign minister meets with UN official in S China

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met on Monday with the visiting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in Guangzhou, as Bachelet kicked off a six-day official visit to China, which will include Xinjiang.

It has been 17 years since China last received a UN human rights chief, and Wang said he hoped that this trip will help enhance understanding and cooperation, and clarify any misinformation.

Wang said the international cause of human rights must refrain from politics, reject double standards, take into account national conditions, and oppose bloc confrontations.

Major countries, in particular, should take the lead in practicing multilateralism, upholding the UN Charter, respecting international law, and defending international fairness and justice, he said.

Wang said that multilateral human rights institutions should serve as a major venue for cooperation and dialogue rather than a new battlefield for division and confrontation.

China stands ready to carry out constructive cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment, he said.

During the meeting, Wang briefed Bachelet on China's history of development and the governing philosophy of the Communist Party of China in connection with China's 5,000-year history. ?

He stressed that the CPC stays committed to taking a people-centered approach and has made it its abiding goal to create a better life for the people.

By combining advanced Marxist theory with China's practice, the CPC has led the Chinese people in blazing a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics consistent with the trend of the times and suits China's national conditions, making historic achievements in reform and opening up, and winning the support of the people, Wang said.

Wang underscored that China has always given priority to ensuring the right to subsistence, put enhancing the right to development high on its agenda, and made the protection of citizens' legitimate rights and interests its basic task.

China has also made safeguarding ethnic groups' rights an important part of its work, and protecting people's safety its long-term goal, he said.

According to Wang, while promoting the development of its own human rights cause, China has been a champion of the universal values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, and has been promoting building a community with a shared future for mankind, making its contributions to solving the major issues facing human society and promoting the development of human rights in the world.

According to a press release on the Foreign Ministry's website, Bachelet congratulated China on its important achievements in economic and social development and human rights protection, and spoke positively of China's contributions in supporting multilateralism, development financing, sustainable development, poverty reduction, climate change, ecological conservation and other areas concerning the development of human rights.

Noting the great importance the OHCHR attaches to China's role, Bachelet expressed the hope that this visit will be an opportunity to enhance mutual understanding and trust between the two sides to jointly deal with global challenges and advance the international human rights cause.?

The two sides also exchanged views on the international and regional humanitarian situations of mutual concern.