Survival, development are basic human rights: Xi

Liu Qibao, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, reads a congratulatory letter of President Xi Jinping at an international seminar on the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development in Beijing, China, Dec 4, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi Jinping said on Sunday in a congratulatory letter to members of a seminar that the Chinese government deems the right to survive and development as a basic human right.

"As the world's largest developing country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, China's development is the key to solve all of the country's problems, and it is also the top priority of the governance of the Communist Party of China," he said in the letter.

The international seminar on the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development was held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Sunday.

The right to development was proclaimed by the United Nations in the 1986 "Declaration on the Right to Development," which was adopted by the UN General Assembly resolution 41/128.

Liu Qibao, head of the publicity department of the CPC Central Committee, said in his keynote speech that by lifting more than 700 million people out of poverty, China has achieved the largest scale of poverty reduction with the fastest speed in human history.

China's development has also benefited the world, with more than 400 billion yuan of assistance offered by the Chinese government to 166 foreign countries and international organizations, he said.

Tom Zwart, director of the Netherlands School of Human Rights Research, spoke highly of the Chinese government's efforts and achievements to eradicate poverty.

"The right to development is not about money, but about human dignity," he said.