An article by President Xi Jinping on building an ecological civilization will be carried in the third issue of Qiushi Journal this year, to be published on Feb. 1, 2019.

 

In the article, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, demands the coordination of economic and social development and the building of ecological civilization.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Premier Li Keqiang has called for efforts to deepen reform and opening-up, advance economic and social development, and improve people’s wellbeing.

 

During his inspection tour of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from Feb. 1 to Feb. 2, Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visited poverty-stricken rural households in the city of Ulanqab.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China will continue to work vigorously to reduce poverty and lift no less than ten million people out of poverty in 2019, to lay a solid foundation for winning the battle against poverty, the State Council’s executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Feb. 11, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A Chinese envoy said that several actions can be taken to improve the UN peace-keeping operations on Feb. 11, 2019.

 

Speaking at a plenary meeting of the Special Committee on peacekeeping oper-ations, Wu Haitao, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that the UN peacekeeping operations are facing new challenges while playing an important role in maintaining international peace and security.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) unveiled measures to ensure better judicial protection of minors on Feb. 12, 2019.

 

As part of a five-year reform plan, the SPP will standardize an integrated working mechanism encompassing the arrest, prosecution, investigation and prevention of juvenile crime.
 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China has vowed to cultivate more quality laborers and skilled workers by reforming its vocational education systems, according to a plan for implementing the reform issued by the State Council, or China’s cabinet on Feb. 13.

Vocational education and training systems will be reformed to match with science and technology development trends and market demands and to promote economic modernization and higher quality employment, the official documents note.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Senior diplomats from permanent missions of eight countries to the United Nations Office at Geneva arrived in Beijing on Feb. 15, 2019 and will pay a visit to northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Feb. 16 to 19.
 

Those diplomats, from Pakistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Egypt, Cambodia, Russia, Senegal and Belarus, are visiting at the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Medical conditions in China’s poorest regions are improving with the help of tar-geted medical assistance to hospitals in these regions.

 

More than 400 hospitals in such regions have been upgraded to higher levels, and over 30 hospitals of this kind can now provide medical services comparable to that of top hospitals, according to the National Health Commission (NHC) in a press release on Feb. 17.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China hopes that the Spanish side will take effective measures to earnestly guar-antee the legitimate rights of Chinese citizens in Spain, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China) regular press conference on Feb. 18, 2019.

 

From: MFA

 

 

Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region secured 33.4 billion yuan (about 4.99 billion U.S. dollars) for poverty relief programs last year.

 

The efforts have paid off. Data show that 537,000 people in Xinjiang were lifted out of poverty in the past year, with the region’s poverty headcount ratio dropping from 11.57 percent in 2017 to 6.51 percent in 2018.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Agriculture, rural areas and farmer’s issues remain China’s top priorities for the 16th consecutive year as its “No. 1 central document” prioritizes development of agriculture and rural areas.

 

The document, the first policy statement released by central authorities each year and seen as an indicator of policy priorities, was made public by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council on Feb. 19, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Healthcare continued to attract investment in China, with funds flowing in to the sector increasing 78.64 percent year on year to 82.6 billion yuan (12.28 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the China Daily reported on Feb. 19, 2019.

 

Though much of the investment was fueled by the surging healthcare demands of the country’s aging population, it was also aided by people’s growing healthcare demand and policy support, the newspaper quoted an industry report as saying.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China has made “important and decisive achievements” in poverty relief in the past six years, and will continue its efforts this year to lay a solid foundation for winning the battle against poverty by 2020.

 

In the past six years, China lifted 82.39 million rural poor out of poverty, with the rural poor population down from 98.99 million at the end of 2012 to 16.6 million at the end of last year, said Ou Qingping, deputy director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, at a press conference on Feb. 20, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China aims to lift more than 10 million people above the poverty line this year, and 300 counties will be removed from the poverty list, a high-ranking official said on Feb. 20, 2019.

 

The two goals, if accomplished, will lay a foundation for victory in the country’s poverty alleviation campaign by 2020, Ou Qingping, deputy head of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said at a policy briefing hosted by the State Council Information Office.

 

From: China Daily

 

 

China has made headway in poverty alleviation, with minimum living allowance standards for both urban and rural areas rising in 2018, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Feb. 21, 2019.
 

Compared with 2017, the minimum living allowance standard for urban areas has increased by 7.2 percent and the standard for rural areas by 12.4 percent in 2018, Minister of Civil Affairs Huang Shuxian said at a press conference in Beijing.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate said Saturday that procuratorial organs will spare no efforts to protect the legitimate rights and interests of detainees.

 

By last November, procuratorial organs had filed 55,858 cases to review the necessity of detention and had made 49,956 suggestions for releasing or changing compulsory measures, among which about 89.5 percent were accepted.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Co-hosted by the Political Work Department of China’s Central Military Commission and China’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, an exhibition themed on CPLA (Chinese People’s Liberation Army): A FORCE FOR WORLD PEACE was launched at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York on Feb. 11, 2019. Over 200 people attended the opening ceremony. The Exhibition will be closed on Feb. 22, 2019.

 

From: en.humanrights.cn

 

 

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) opened its 40th regular session here on Feb. 25, 2019. The delegates are to hear statements by some 100 high-level dignitaries in the coming weeks.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China has set up a national work group on an immunization plan to improve vaccine supervision to ensure their safety, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Feb. 25, 2019.

 

The work group, headed by a vice-minister of health, is analyzing all incidents concerning vaccine safety that have occurred over the past few years to find the sourc-es of problems, Gao Fu said at a news conference.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

China attaches great importance to undertakings for persons with disabilities, and will not leave behind a single one of them while building a moderately prosperous society, a senior Chinese diplomat said at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva on Feb. 26, 2019.

 

For the first time within the UNHRC framework, China and the European Union co-hosted a meeting, titled “Leave no one behind: the key role of the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities,” at the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG) on Tues-day, on the sidelines of the ongoing UNHRC’s 40th session.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A national service center to provide better services and safeguard veteran’s wel-fare formally started operation in Beijing on Feb. 26, 2019

 

The service center is mainly responsible for helping veterans find jobs or start businesses, providing preferential treatment and assistance, as well as arranging visits to exservicemen, said an official with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A group of journalists from Indonesia and Malaysia visited the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Feb. 22 to 27 to interview the local people and find out about the region’s development and how it implements policies on de-extremism. 

 

The visit by 11 journalists, as part of the ASEAN Elites China Tour 2019, followed a series of tours by overseas media and foreign diplomats to Xinjiang.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

More than 992,000 voluntary organ donors have registered across China, official figures showed on Feb. 28, 2019.

 

The number was released at the 2019 Chinese Organ Procurement Organization Congress, held in the city of Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province. More than 300 experts and academics from home and abroad attended the conference.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A total of 695,800 impoverished people have been relocated for a better life in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as of Feb. 28 this year since the region started a campaign to alleviate poverty through resettlement in 2016.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

 

Zhaluo, a consultant with China Society for Human Rights Studies and also a research fellow with China Tibetology Research Center, attends a sideline meeting, titled “Development and Progress of Human Rights in Tibet”, during the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on Mar. 1, 2019.

 

The rapid social and economic development of China’s Tibet Autonomous Re-gion and the tremendous changes in the lives of residents there are attributed to the all-time supportive government policies, strong fiscal aid from the central government, and assistance from other provinces and enterprises, the senior Tibetan researcher said.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China is drafting a law on the welfare of military veterans and may submit it to the top legislature for deliberation in the second half of 2019, a minister said on Mar. 3, 2019.
 

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of the top political advisory body, Minister of Veterans Affairs Sun Shaocheng said the legislation, together with a guideline on strengthening the work on veterans affairs, are the priority in a package of laws and regulations in the making to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of veterans.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China’s capability in preventing and controlling major diseases is leading the world, former director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said on Mar. 3, 2019.

 

“China’s two emergency medical teams were among the first groups approved by the WHO. In a sense, this is a recognition of their world-leading capabilities,” she said at the first “passage interview” of the second session of the 13th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference that opened on Mar. 3, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China plans to make a personal information protection law, in a bid to fight against improper collection, abuse and leak of citizen’s personal information, a spokesperson for the annual session of the country’s top legislature said on Mar. 4, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

An exhibition on the human rights situation in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was held in Mar. 4-8 at the Palais des Nations during the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

 

The exhibition “Development and Progress of Human Rights in Xinjiang” held at the building of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) features more than 80 pictures reflecting the system of regional ethnic autonomy, democratic election at the community level, freedom of religious belief and protection of the ethnic culture there, among other things.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for perseverance in the fight against poverty as there are only two years left for the country to meet its goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2020 on Mar. 7, 2019.
 

“There should be no retreat until a complete victory is won,” said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.
 

He made the remarks when deliberating with deputies from Gansu Province at the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national legislature.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Popularization of the national common language provides guarantee for the right to development for every ethnic group in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a Chinese scholar said on Mar. 8, 2019.

 

Zuliyati Simayi, a member of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and a professor at the School of Political Science and Public Administration of Xinjiang University, made the remarks on the sidelines of the ongoing 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A side event of the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council, titled “Progress of Human Rights in China,” was held here at the headquarters of UN at Geneva on Mar. 11, 2019.

 

Five experts from China shared their observations on how development efforts helped safeguard the rights of the people in China over the past decades at the side event jointly sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the Chi-nese Mission to UN at Geneva.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Chinese courts have issued 3,718 personal safety protection orders as of 2018 since the country’s domestic violence law went into effect in Mar. 2016, according to a report by China Women’s News on Mar. 12, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Vocational education centers in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are not concentration or re-education camps as portrayed in some media reports, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, said on Mar. 12, 2019.

 

From: China Daily

 

 

China published a report on human rights situation in the United States on Mar. 14, 2019. The report, titled “Human Rights Record of the United States in 2018,” was released by the Information Office of the State Council in response to the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the U.S. State Department on Mar. 13, local time.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A spokesman for China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said that human rights and freedom in Hong Kong are fully protected by law on Mar. 14, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

The government of China’s Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) ex-pressed its strong opposition to the U.S. human rights reports on Mar. 14, 2019, according to a statement by the Government Spokesperson’s Office of the Macao SAR.

 

The reports published by the U.S. Department of State made irresponsible remarks on the Macao SAR affairs that are China’s internal issues, the statement said.
 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China urges the U.S. to take an objective and fair look at its human rights conditions, and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular briefing one day after Washington DC blasted China in “a league of its own” for alleged violations of human rights.

 

Lu said on Mar. 14 that the U.S. report was as usual filled with ideological prejudice and groundless accusations, and Beijing has lodged a solemn representation to Washington DC.
 

From: CGTN

 

 

China completed its 3rd UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process on Mar. 15 which its delegation head described as “smooth and successful.”

 

“Wide recognitions” were achieved regarding China’s human rights achievements, human rights development path and the country’s determination to promote human rights situation, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng after the session at the council, which adopted a final report on China’s third Universal Periodic Review in November 2018.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A Chinese envoy on Mar. 15 showcased China’s achievements in gender equality, saying the status of women in China has undergone fundamental changes.

 

The Chinese government has always attached great importance to gender equali-ty, said Wu Haitao, charge d’affaires of China’s permanent mission to the United Nations.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China completed its third review on Mar. 15 at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, a process that Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng described as “smooth” and “very successful”.

 

From: China Daily

 

 

China has been striking at terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law and giving top priority to a preventive approach, according to a white paper released on Mar. 18, 2019.

 

Terrorism and extremism jeopardize human rights and sustainable development, since they propagate intolerance between different religions, cultures and societies, and challenge human justice and dignity, says the white paper, titled “The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang”.

 

From: China Daily

 

 

The State Council Information Office issued a white paper on the fight against terrorism and extremism and human rights protection in Xinjiang on Mar. 18, 2019.

 

The Chinese government stands firmly against all forms of terrorism and extremism, and is relentless in striking hard, in accordance with the law, at any conduct advocating terrorism and extremism and any action that involves organizing, planning and carrying out terrorist activities, or infringing upon citizens’ human rights, the white paper said.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China will raise the basic pension in 2019, the 15th straight year it had done so, to strengthen people’s sense of fulfillment and happiness, an Economic Daily report said on Mar. 21, 2019.

 

Starting from the beginning of this year, the average monthly payment for retirees from enterprises, government agencies and public institutions was lifted by 5 percent from 2018 levels, according to a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China recorded 23,219 cases of voluntary organ donations, with 64,087 organs donated, from 2010 to the end of February this year, official figure showed on Mar. 23, 2019.
 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, attended a special session on girls’ and women’s education at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Mar. 26, 2019.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Experts and academics held in-depth talks during the 2019 China-Germany Forum on Human Rights Development here on Mar. 26, according to an official press release.

 

The dialogue, themed “Social Development and Progress in Human Rights — A 70 Year Retrospect and Prospect”, focused on the links between human rights and var-ious fields, such as poverty relief, social security network, sustainable development, anti-terrorism in the 21st century, etc.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China’s State Council Information Office issued a white paper on democratic reform and the leap of development in Tibet over the past six decades on Mar. 27, 2019.

 

The white paper, titled “Democratic Reform in Tibet — Sixty Years On,” lauded the democratic reform as “the greatest and most profound social transformation in the history of Tibet.”

 

From: Xinhua