Integral part of governance

According to the newly revised Electoral Law, which came into effect in 2013, both rural and urban areas have, for the first time, adopted the same ratio of deputies to the represented population in the elections for people's congress deputies. Meanwhile, by carrying out extensive democratic consultation, the Chinese people have been offered increasingly clear channels to exercise their political rights.

Another important characteristic of the guaranteeing of human rights in China lies in the remarkable degree of consensus between the country and its people in promoting political rights, the awareness that it is a two-way interactive process to realize citizens' political rights. Only with positive interaction between the government and citizens is it possible to fully realize political rights.

The development environment for human rights has been changing all the time. On the one hand, there has indeed been much more work to do in practice. On the other hand, there are also many realistic difficulties and obstacles on the way to fully realizing human rights of all kinds, including citizens' political rights.

China's practice has again proved that it is an important prerequisite for the country's stability and development, as well as people's happiness, to balance and promote political and economic rights. As the world's largest developing country, China should first be committed to providing better protection of its people's economic rights. At the same time, as a socialist democracy that has always ensured power belongs to the people, China should give full play to its institutional advantage to expand democracy, guarantee and fully realize citizens' political rights, and ensure that people determine their own destiny.

One-sided empty talk that pays lip service to the so-called political rights but abuses power in practice, will by no means bring true democracy and uphold people's rights, instead it will only drag the country into political unrest and poverty. The ongoing turmoil in some eastern European countries serves as a warning of what could happen.

The author is director of the Institute of Politics and Public Administration Studies and Center for Human Rights Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science.