Living a happy life is the primary human right

By He Yin, People’s Daily
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the 2021 South-South Human Rights Forum, which opened in Beijing on Dec. 8.
Noting that human rights represent the progress of human civilization, Xi said in the letter that it is a common pursuit of human society to protect the life, value and dignity of everyone and deliver human rights to all.
Putting people first and taking people’s aspiration for a better life as a goal to strive for is a responsibility placed on all countries, he said, adding that the Communist Party of China is committed to respecting and protecting human rights.
Xi’s letter profoundly explained how China views human rights, introduced the country’s concrete actions to safeguard human rights, and demonstrated the country’s sense of responsibility to carry forward the common values of humanity and promote the healthy development of the international human rights cause.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) is a political party that has always respected and protected human rights. It has been upholding the banner of democracy and human rights since the day it was founded. It has united and led the Chinese people to fight for national independence and liberation in a tireless struggle, founding the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and making the people the masters of the country.
After the PRC was founded, the CPC has led the Chinese people in completing socialist revolution and construction, and establishing socialism as China’s basic system. It has created the fundamental political conditions and the institutional foundation for the development of China’s human rights cause.
As China adopted the policy of reform and opening up, it has been forging ahead on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Continuously unleashing and developing productive forces, China has made the historic transformation of raising the living standards of its people from bare subsistence to an overall level of moderate prosperity, and then ultimately to moderate prosperity in all respects. China has come a long way in human rights progress.
President Xi places high importance on respecting and protecting human rights. He has raised a series of original and appealing visions on human rights, including the philosophy of placing people at the center and putting people and their lives first. He also holds that living a happy life is the primary human right and is pushing forward with the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
China is committed to a people-centered approach, places the interests of the people in the first place, promotes human rights progress with development, advocates whole-process people’s democracy, and promotes the free and comprehensive development of the people. It has successfully blazed a trail of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and made remarkable achievements in its human rights cause.
Charles-Armel Doubane, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Central African Republic pointed out that the world should learn from China’s experience of placing people’s development in the central place and strive for common progress.
China’s practice fully indicated that living a happy life is the primary human right. Winning the battle against poverty, China has lifted nearly 100 million rural people out of poverty and met the poverty eradication target set in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.
To protect the lives and health of the people, the country has put the people and their lives in the first place in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. All individuals are taken good care of, including newborns and centenarians.
Italian expert Paolo Vincenzo Genovese who had once been deeply involved in China’s poverty alleviation said the 1.4 billion Chinese people are gaining an increasingly larger sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security, and China’s practice has provided valuable experiences for other countries to promote the development of human rights.
China has been active in global governance of human rights and fulfilled its international human rights obligations, contributing important wisdom and strength to international human rights undertakings.
The country has proactively launched international cooperation to fight COVID-19 and sent huge batches of anti-pandemic materials to the rest of the world. China is the first country in the world that has promised to make COVID-19 vaccines a global public product, and has so far provided over 1.8 billion does of vaccines for more than 120 countries and international organizations, making vital contributions to the fair distribution and accessibility of vaccines.
To promote common development of the world, China adheres to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. It has promoted the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which batches of cooperation projects have been implemented, creating over 300,000 jobs for participating countries and enhancing the wellbeing of their people.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Muratbek Imanaliev, who’s also the former Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization noted that the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind has become a guidance for the promotion of South-South Cooperation.
There is always room for improvement when it comes to human rights protection. China is willing to keep carrying forward the common values of humanity, enhance human rights exchanges and cooperation, and improve the global human rights governance system, to make the international human rights cause more equal, comprehensive, balanced and progressive.