The Chinese Government attaches great importance to the promotion and protection of human rights. Over the past 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, we have managed to ensure enough food and clothing for more than 1.4 billion people, cut impoverished population by 850 million, and offer basic security to 250 million elderly, 85 million persons with disabilities and more than 60 million persons that receive urban or rural minimum living subsidies, thus continuously increasing the Chinese people's sense of happiness and satisfaction. In the face of the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese Government, putting people and their lives first, has taken the most comprehensive, strict and thorough prevention and control measures, effectively safeguarding people's right to life and health.

China attaches great importance to political and civil rights. China has established the world's largest democratic electoral system at the primary level. China fully safeguards freedom of expression in accordance with the law. In China, there are more than 900 million Internet users, generating 30 billion pieces of information every day, representing the largest information production and most active minds in the world. China's human rights achievements are undeniable. We have full confidence in the path of human rights development that we have chosen.

We urge certain countries to immediately stop politicizing human rights issues, interfering in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of human rights, imposing unilateral sanctions that infringe upon the basic human rights of the people of other countries, and using human rights for unilateralism and bullying. They should earnestly shoulder the responsibility for saving lives of their own people and safeguarding human rights in their own countries, so as not to hold back the global cause of human rights and the global fight against the pandemic.