On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression as well as the World Anti-Fascist War, the Beijing Forum on Human Rights this year is themed with "Peace and Development: Victory of World Anti-Fascist War and Human Rights Advancement," which helps all parties deeply reflect on the guarantee of rights to peace and development of mankind. On behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, I would like to extend a sincere congratulation to the opening of the Forum. 

 

Seventy years ago, in order to safeguard the peace, justice and dignity of mankind, all countries and people loving peace and freedom in the world won the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War after tenacious struggle at the cost of the loss of tens of millions of lives. During the war, the Chinese people resisted Japanese militarists’ brutal aggression for 14 years, making huge sacrifices and remarkable contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. The Chinese people, having gone through much suffering in modern times, know very well the great significance of human value, basic human rights and human dignity to social development and progress and especially cherish the hard-won peaceful development environment, and will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and steadfastly advance the human rights cause in both China and the world.

 

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government always respect and ensure human rights. For a long time, China, by connecting the universality principle of human rights with China’s reality, has constantly advanced social and economic development, improved people’s welfare, promoted social fairness and justice, strengthened legal guarantee of human rights and strived for a comprehensive and coordinated development of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights. This has significantly elevated the guarantee level of people’s existence and development rights and paved a path for human rights development compatible to China’s national conditions.

 

Attaining people’s full enjoyment of human rights is a shared goal of the humanity. There is no best but better human rights guarantee. The international community should actively push forward the global human rights cause, and, particularly, pay attention to existence and development rights of people in developing countries. The Chinese people are striving for the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which will guarantee Chinese people’s human rights at a higher level and promote their comprehensive development.

 

China advocates that we should enhance exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations and push exchanges and cooperation among all countries, thus ensuring a better development of the human rights cause in all countries. I hope that participants from around the world pool their ideas through active discussion and contribute to promote a healthy development of the human rights cause around the world. 

 

I wish the 2015 Beijing Forum on Human Rights a great success!

 

XI Jinping

 

President of the People’s Republic of China

 

September 16, 2015