Rights commitments have been met, diplomat says

China has implemented or carried out recommendations received four years ago during the first UN human rights review and basically fulfilled its commitment, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.

Wu Hailong, head of the Chinese delegation to the Second Universal Periodic Review on China by the Human Rights Council, said in Geneva that the notion of promoting and safeguarding human rights has long been incorporated into China's Constitution, its national economic and social development plans and the Constitution of the Communist Party of China.

Wu's introduction portrayed a general picture of China's efforts on human rights developments, and he emphasized that there is always room for improvement in the field of human rights.

"We are soberly aware that China still faces many difficulties and challenges in promoting and protecting human rights," Wu said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday that the majority of countries at the UN meeting expressed their approval of the significant achievements China has made over the past four years.

"The majority of participating countries at the UN meeting supported China's promotion and protection of citizens' rights based on the nation's condition and said they hope to learn from China's experience, especially in promoting people's right to live and develop," she said.

She said China will seriously consider all the constructive criticism as long as it meets China's conditions.

As many delegations have praised China's active participation in the UN Review, Hua said the Chinese government always pays close attention to the issue and has made universally recognized achievements, including creating more jobs and promoting urbanization that has changed the fate of millions of people.

"It would be impossible to come out with a just report if it simply focused on a certain case but disregarded the whole picture," Hua said.

Zhang Xiaoan, vice-president of the UN Association of China, said there is no such thing as a "universal standard" when evaluating a certain country's human rights conditions. "Each country has its own difficulties and is at different developing stages. Protecting and promoting human rights should be based on the national condition of the country." Zhang said.

Zhang said Western countries don't understand the difficulties developing countries face. "They try to apply a single standard to all countries but are only left with the aftermath. What the US did in the Middle East is a good example. The most important thing is to have an active attitude and promote human rights through economic and social development."

Li Yongcheng, a researcher of international relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said China's achievements in human rights protection have been widely recognized by the world and greatly benefited the people.

"Western countries and China are at a different level of development and have different political systems." It is natural to have different opinions about how to protect human rights," Li said.

Xinhua-China Daily

(China Daily 10/24/2013 page10)