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Spokesperson's Response to Inquiry from The Economist

2019-12-06 08:34

On 3 December, Spokesperson of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations gave a response to inquiry from The Economist on China's UN policy and its positions on human rights. Here is the full text of the response:

Human rights is an ideal pursued by people around the world. China takes into account both the universality and specificity of human rights, and commits to promoting and protecting human rights in the course of development. China takes the rights of survival and development as the primary fundamental human rights, advances people's economic, political, social, cultural and environmental rights, and promotes all-round development of the people. China has found a path of human rights development suited to its national conditions and made remarkable achievements. China has succeeded in providing sufficient food and clothing to nearly 1.4 billion people and lifted 850 million people out of extreme poverty. We have created jobs for 770 million people, made 9-year compulsory education available to all children, and set up the world's largest medical insurance and social security systems. Next year, we will lift all rural poor under the current poverty line out of poverty and turn China into a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This is the biggest human rights project and the best human rights practice.

Human rights is a pillar that underpins the work of the UN along with peace and security and development. China attaches great importance to and is actively engaged in the work of human rights in the UN, especially the Human Rights Council and the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. China fulfills its international obligations in real earnest and receives country reviews and reviews on the implementation of human rights conventions. Over the past nearly five years, China has had more than 50 human rights dialogues and consultations with over 20 countries. Regarding the UN's work on human rights, it is China's consistent view that countries should observe the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and basic norms governing international relations, respect others' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and abandon politicization and double standards; Countries should respect others' own choices of paths of human rights development, as well as their values, historical and cultural traditions and political systems; Countries should have equal-footed dialogue, cooperation and exchanges to achieve common progress through mutual learning; Countries should promote balanced development of the two categories of human rights and strike a balance between universality and specificity of human rights, between rights and obligations, and between individual rights and collective rights.

Preventive counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures taken in Xinjiang have effectively maintained peace and stability and human rights of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. This is the fundamental reason why so many countries support China in the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. During the Third Committee meetings of the General Assembly this year, a handful of countries, turning a blind eye to the facts, initiated a joint statement on Xinjiang out of ulterior motives, attacking and smearing China's Xinjiang policy, provoking confrontation, politicizing and adopting double standards on counter-terrorism and human rights in gross interference in China's internal affairs. To that end, they exerted pressure on other member states in various ways. Under such circumstances, China told the true story of Xinjiang and won support from many member states, maintaining China's interests. The small number of countries, instead of reflecting on their wrong positions, tried to cover up the real reason for their minimal support by accusing China of being assertive and blaming China even further. We believe you can see these basic facts.

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