LIU Qiucen*

 

Abstract: On November 1, 1991, the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China issued its first white paper entitled Human Rights in China. In the past 30 years, China’s human rights cause has developed rapidly, and relevant theoretical research has been continuously improved. On October 15, 2021, the Seminar Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Release of the White Paper Entitled Human Rights in China was held in Beijing. It focused on three topics: the theoretical significance of the white paper, its discourse building and its practice. The meeting held that the Chinese human rights philosophy emphasized in the white paper is in line with China’s national conditions and development path philosophy, and is a typical achievement of adapting Marxism to Chinese conditions. Over the past 30 years since the release of this white paper, China’s human rights cause has completed the basic work of theoretical building and path exploration, and meanwhile, China has established a human rights discourse system and human rights protection system in line with China’s history and development stage, participated in global human rights cooperation, and contributed Chinese wisdom to the advancement of the world’s human rights cause.

 

Keywords: seminar commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of the white paper Human Rights in China · human rights discourse system · human rights practice · international human rights cooperation

 

On November 1, 1991, the Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) published a white paper entitled Human Rights in China, the first white paper published by the Chinese government and the first official document on human rights in China. This document, which contains about 45,0000 words, expounded on China’s basic position and basic policies on human rights, showed the international community the tremendous changes in human rights that had taken place since the founding of the PRC, and played a major role in helping the international community understand the development of human rights in China. Over the past 30 years, the human rights cause in China has developed vigorously, the human rights discourse system of China has been continuously improved, and the Chinese government has actively participated in international human rights governance, conscientiously fulfilled its relevant international obligations, continuously enhanced its influence in the international human rights discourse, thereby contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese approaches for the development of the world’s human rights cause.

 

On October 15, 2021, the Seminar Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Release of the White Paper Entitled Human Rights in China sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) and hosted by the Human Rights Research Institute of Southwest University of Political Science and Law and Human Rights magazine was held in Beijing. More than 50 experts and scholars in the field of human rights gathered to conduct academic discussions on three topics: “The Theoretical Significance of the Release of the White Paper Human Rights in China,” “The Discourse Building of the White Paper Human Rights in China,” and “The Practice of the White Paper Human Rights in China,” which built a series of important consensuses and achieved fruitful results. 

 

 

At the beginning of reform and opening up, the United States and other Western countries used human rights as a weapon to constantly make unwarranted charges against China. Against this historical background, the Chinese government began to draft a white paper on human rights. 

 

The white paper Human Rights in China describes the Chinese people’s arduous national salvation and fight for human rights, and puts forward for the first time the view that “the right to subsistence is the primary human right that the Chinese people have long been striving for.” Since the white paper was released, the “great term” of “human rights” has been written into the Party’s documents, China’s national Constitution, and the country’s economic and social development plans.

 

Professor Liu Hainian, a consultant of CSHRS, held that the white paper Human Rights in China was the product of the times and answered questions about the developments at home and abroad at that time. At home, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee made the policy of emancipating the mind and reform and opening up and proposed to carry forward socialist democracy, strengthen the socialist legal system, and protect people’s rights. Internationally, color revolutions took place in some Eastern European countries in the late 1980s, and the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s.The United States and other Western countries imposed sanctions on China under various pretexts while picking on the human rights struggle in China in an attempt to realize a so-called color revolution in the country. China needed to make a resolute response.

 

Professor Fu Zitang of the Southwest University of Political Science and Law said that the issuing of the human rights white paper in 1991 played a role in emancipating the mind and changed the situation that the Chinese government had long “promoted human rights cause” but did not tell China’s human rights stories, that it has “done much” but “spoken too little” or “dared not speak,” and “desensitized” the term “human rights” at the official level. With the release of the white paper, China began to face up to and study human rights, and many experts and scholars have devoted themselves to the theoretical development of China’s human rights cause..

 

 

The white paper scientifically defined the connotation of the term “human rights” by pointing out that: “For a country and nation, human rights are first and foremost the people’s right to subsistence without which there are no other human rights to speak of. This is the plainest truth.”

 

Professor Liu Hainian said that an important contribution of this white paper was it explained the content and significance of the rights to subsistence and development as primary human rights. The rights to national independence, subsistence, and development are closely linked and mutually reinforcing. Without the right to subsistence and development of the state, the right to subsistence and development of individuals and the collective would not be guaranteed. This close relationship between the state and individuals is not only a law proved by history and reality but also an essential feature of the socialist system and the protection of human rights.

 

Professor Qi Yanping of the Beijing Institute of Technology was of the view that the idea of paying equal attention to “respect” and “protection and promotion” was incorporated in the white paper, which is epitomized by it identifying the right to subsistence as the primary human right.

 

The white paper also contained such important statements as “human rights are first and foremost the people’s right to subsistence” and “the right to development should be given priority.” On this basis, the white paper Progress in China’s Human Rights released in 1995 further proposed to “put the people’s right to subsistence and development in the first place.” The white paper Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China released in 2019 raised the idea of “no human right is more important than the right to a happy life” and summarized it as “a human rights philosophy that centers on the people.” The building of this Chinese human rights discourse indicates that China’s human rights research has entered a new period of vigorous development.

 

Professor He Zhipeng of Jilin University held that the 1991 white paper was the first step in the exploration of China’s systematic human rights discourse. As the first white paper released by the Chinese government, it created a form of expression for stating the government’s position and set a model for the conveying the government’s views and official information. In terms of content, it was the first systematic summary of China’s human rights position and practice; in terms of its attribute, it was China’s first human rights diplomacy; in terms of working procedures, it employed the working mode of deeply integrating politics and research for the first time.

 

 

This white paper is a summary and statement of human rights thought at that point in China’s development. Professor Zhu Liyu of the Renmin University of China pointed out in his speech at a conference that Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin’s expositions on human rights were Marxist views of human rights and an important guiding ideology for China’s first human rights white paper. As early as May 20 and June 6, 1985, in two talks entitled Promoting Bourgeois Liberalization Is Tantamount to Taking the Capitalist Road, Deng Xiaoping said: “What are human rights? The first criterion is to see how many people it covers. Is it the human rights of the minority, or the majority, or of the whole country? In essence, the so-called “human rights” in the western world and the human rights we talk about are two different things and two different views.”¹ On October 29, 1991, Jiang Zemin also said in an interview with Arnaud de Borchgrave, a former editor of the Washington Times: “A fundamental issue of democracy, freedom and human rights is people’s right to subsistence and development, that is, whether people can truly control their destiny... It is meaningless to talk about democracy, freedom, and human rights without social progress and economic development.”²

 

According to Researcher Liu Huawen of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the release of this white paper showed that the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government were officially holding high the banner of human rights. Since then, China has begun to speak out confidently about human rights, vigorously promote human rights, and unswervingly develop human rights causes in China and the world at large.

 

China’s understanding of human rights has also deepened with the times. Over the past 30 years, some views and statements in China’s human rights white paper have changed, but the general content and philosophy remain unchanged, showing the continuity and development of the exploration in the theoretical development of China’s human rights cause. The main manifestations include the expression “the right to subsistence is the primary human right that the Chinese people have long been striving for,” which has developed into “the right to subsistence and the right to development are the primary basic human rights”; “the road of realizing and safeguarding human rights cannot be divorced from a country’s history and the specific national economic, political and cultural conditions” has developed into “the combination of universal truth and specific national conditions”; “the state pays attention not only to the protection of individual human rights, but also to the protection of collective human rights” has developed into “the unity of individual human rights and collective human rights”; “the scope of human rights in China is extensive, including not only the right to subsistence, personal rights, and political rights but also economic, cultural and social rights” has developed into “making comprehensive progress in human rights.”

 

This series of historical explorations and changes vividly shows that China’s philosophy of human rights has taken on a fresh look of inclusiveness based on its history and social status quo.

 

 

Associate Professor Lu Zhi’an of Fudan University pointed out that the development of China’s human rights cause has proceeded from reality, sought truth from facts, and taken a development path in line with China’s national conditions. Under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people, by proceeding from their history and national conditions and based on long-term practical experience, have explored a human rights development path to achieve the lofty goal of fully enjoying human rights.

 

Over the past 30 years since the white paper was released, China has made significant contributions to the development of the international human rights system. Over the years, China’s white papers on human rights have been continuously refined with the inclusion of new data, the building of new a discourse, and forming a new system; at the same time, China has actively contributed its due share to the development of science, technology, and civilization in the world. China has worked hard to reconstruct the international human rights system and human rights protection mechanism that the United States wantonly undermines. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly advocated the common values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom for all mankind in the international community which is itself a profound and scientific expression of China’s human rights philosophy.

 

As Professor Mao Junxiang of Central South University pointed out, over the past 30 years, China’s white papers on human rights have always recorded the Chinese government’s practice of publicizing human rights protection, and also promoted the human rights view with Chinese characteristics. China’s white papers on human rights put into practice a great concept, that is, to declare the great achievements of the practice of Chinese rights protection and the human rights view with Chinese characteristics. They propose a new Chinese plan to the world: from “human rights exchanges and cooperation” to “promoting the development of the world’s human rights cause,” and summarize China’s plan to promote international human rights governance as “building a community with a shared future for mankind,” “building a global community of health for all” and “building a just and reasonable global governance order on human rights.”

 

At the same time, China’s white papers do not only focus on human rights in China. As pointed out by Professor Zhang Wanhong of Wuhan University, the Chinese government issued two white papers, one in 2011 and one in 2014 entitled China’s Foreign Aid which, based on the theory of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping, showed the new development of China’s human rights cause in the field of foreign aid, and also reflected the new connotation of China’s human rights cause in international cooperation.

 

 

For a certain period after the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, human rights were regarded as the slogan of the bourgeoisie and denounced in China’s theoretical circles. Even though it changed later, they were not been transformed into national policies and legal systems. Human rights issues remained at the level of discussion with no substantive breakthrough having been made³ until the release of the white paper Human Rights in China in 1991.

 

 

The 1991 human rights white paper faithfully recorded the glorious course of China’s human rights protection practice, elaborated on the systematic content of the human rights view with Chinese characteristics, and developed the human rights discourse with Chinese characteristics. It represents the most objective material for studying the development of the practice and theory of human rights in China up to that point.

 

Professor Li Yunlong of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee believed that this white paper systematically expounded the Chinese government’s basic views and positions on human rights and established the basic framework of China’s human rights discourse. It recognized human rights, saying that human rights are “a great term” and “an ideal pursued by mankind for a long time,” which provides a reliable foundation for the building of China’s human rights discourse. The white paper uses the human rights discourse to explain China’s revolutionary history and achievements in China’s construction, and emphasizes that the CPC has always been a political party fighting for the human rights of the Chinese people, and China’s socialist construction ensures the comprehensive protection of human rights. The view that the right to subsistence is the primary human right put forward in the white paper has become the core content of China’s human rights discourse. The white paper represents the formal formation of human rights discourse with Chinese characteristics, making it of great historical and practical significance.

 

Professor Chang Jian of Nankai University held that the white paper had both internal and external functions. Its external function mainly included two aspects: one was to declare the government’s position, policies, and safeguards on human rights issues; the other was to respond to the concerns of the international community about human rights in China, especially issues involving re-education through labor, freedom of religious belief, protection of the rights of ethnic minorities, and the family planning policy. Its internal function also mainly comprised two aspects: one was to summarize China’s path and practical experience of human rights development, and the other was to build consensus on human rights among political, academic, and social circles.

 

 

Since the release of the white paper Human Rights in China in 1991, China has announced to the world its views and propositions on global human rights governance. The white paper stated:“The international landscape is changing from the old one into the new one, and the world is more volatile. Hegemonism and power politics continue to exist, endangering world peace and development. They use human rights as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and pursue power diplomacy, which hinders the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In the face of such an international situation, China is willing to work with the international community to establish a new order of just and reasonable international relations and continue to make unremitting efforts to realize the purpose of the United Nations, i.e., to safeguard and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.”Thirty years after that, this basic judgment is still relevant and inspirational.

 

Professor Qian Jinyu of Northwest University of Political Science and Law said that taking the community with a shared future for mankind as the philosophy of global human rights governance and taking pluralism — cooperation and co-governance — as the model of global human rights governance has always been the vision of global human rights governance expressed in China’s human rights white papers. From Human Rights in China to The Communist Party of China and Human Rights Protection — A 100-Year Quest, from The Right to Development: China’s Philosophy, Practice and Contribution to Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China, from China’s Progress in Poverty Reduction and Human Rights to Moderate Prosperity in All Respects: Another Milestone Achieved in China’s Human Rights, these white papers all demonstrate China’s philosophy and vision of global human rights governance.

 

 

Professor Liu Zhiqiang of Guangzhou University summarized the human rights statements made by Chinese state leaders in three stages, i.e., from 1991 to 2003, from 2003 to 2013, and from 2013 to now. He believed that they show a shift in focus from the external to internal, and the content of human rights statements changed from principles to concrete content and from being abstract to being pragmatic. He believed that China’s national human rights position is jointly expressed by the president, the Information Office of the State Council, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and their statements on human rights completely and systematically reflect the Chinese government’s human rights position.

 

Generally speaking, in the past 30 years, the focus of China’s statements on human rights has changed from the right to subsistence to the right to development and social security rights, and their main form has also experienced gradual development and change from a passive response to the active promotion of China’s human rights proposals.

 

 

In the current global human rights governance, the tendency of human rights politicization is becoming increasingly serious, and the research and expression of human rights in various countries are facing severe external challenges. After the release of the white paper in 1991, China has upheld a scientific attitude towards human rights, so that human rights can be free from political influence, which has played an extremely positive role in the development of human rights research and education in contemporary China.

 

Professor Chen Youwu of Guangzhou University believed that promoting the “scientific development of human rights” to deal with “the politicization of human rights” should become a focus in the struggle and publicity of foreign human rights. Among them, an important link in the scientific development of human rights lies in making human rights itself a discipline and science.

 

 

In the 30 years since the release of the white paper, the term “human rights” has been turned from a theory into practice and has been incorporated into the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party and various important Party documents. In 2004, human rights were incorporated into the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, and then the national policy and the work planning documents of governments at all levels. Over the past 30 years, human rights have entered all aspects of life and the content of human rights have been enriched, delivering a better life to the Chinese people.

 

By July 2021, the Chinese government had issued more than 100 white papers, among which 23 have “human rights” in their titles and nearly 80 are related to human rights; their content covers basic human rights, women’s and children’s rights, freedom of religious belief, family planning, environmental protection, labor and social security, rural poverty alleviation, human rights and the rule of law, the right to development, poverty alleviation and poverty reduction, and freedom of expression on the internet, etc.

 

Professor Zhao Shukun of Southwest University of Political Science and Law was of the view that looking back on the human rights practice of the Chinese government’s over the past 30 years since the release of the white paper, it is gratifying to see that the original “hasty response” has been replaced by a steady and step-by-step “conscious advancement.” In the past 30 years of practice, the concepts, categories, and expressions of human rights in the white papers have kept improving, and the building of China’s human rights discourse system and the exploration of the path of socialist human rights with Chinese characteristics has been steadily advanced.

 

 

In terms of international cooperation, the white paper Human Rights in China in 1991 stated: “The international landscape is changing from the old one into the new one, and the world is more volatile. Hegemonism and power politics continue to exist, endangering world peace and development. Human rights are used as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and pursue power diplomacy, which hinders the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In the face of such an international situation, China is willing to work with the international community to establish a new order of just and reasonable international relations and continue to make unremitting efforts to realize the purpose of the United Nations to safeguard and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Thirty years on, this statement still represents the basic position of the Chinese government in participating in international human rights affairs.

 

In the past 30 years of human rights practice, the Chinese government has actively practiced its philosophy of human rights and improved various human rights protection mechanisms at home while actively participating in international human rights cooperation and demonstrating China’s philosophy of and propositions on human rights to the world, thus making great contributions to the global human rights cause.

 

Since this white paper was released, there has been a special section on China’s participation in international human rights cooperation. Professor Luo Yanhua of Peking University summarized some of the international human rights cooperation that China has participated in and its achievements over the past 30 years. He believed that from the participation of China in the World Conference on Human Rights held by the United Nations in Vienna in 1993 and the discussion, drafting, and formulation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action to China’s hosting of the Fourth World Conference on Women convened by the United Nations in 1995, China’s participation in the first meeting of the working group on the formulation of the Optional Protocol to the complaint mechanism of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2009, to putting forward the goal of carbon neutrality in September 2020, China has actively promoted the formulation and implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China has participated in and contributed to every major international human rights cooperation.

 

All this fully demonstrates China’s outstanding contributions to international human rights cooperation and shows that China has always taken into account the overall interests of all mankind. The concept of “promoting win-win cooperation in the field of human rights” advocated by China conforms to the universal aspirations of the international community and the development trend of the times. It is one of China’s important contributions to international human rights cooperation and global human rights governance. As Professor Qi Yanping put it, based on China’s unique history, culture, and national conditions, the cause of human rights in modern China is committed to giving new meaning to the world’s human rights civilization.

 

At the same time, China is committed to building high-end platforms for exchanges and cooperation among developing countries in the field of human rights to provide space and possibilities for exchanges and mutual trust for developing countries. Representative ones, such as the South-South Human Rights Forum, have become important communication channels for developing countries and have made great contributions to promoting their participation in international human rights affairs and making their voice heard.

 

 

 

Through the interpretation of China’s human rights white paper, Professor Zheng Zhihang of Shandong University summarized the main ways to promote the development and realization of economic, social, and cultural rights in China: first, eliminating the unit system and transforming the welfare model based on this system into the general welfare system, so as to improve the level of economic, social and cultural rights of all the people. Second, breaking the urban-rural dual structure and realizing the balanced development of economic, social, and cultural rights by ensuring equal access to public services, compulsory education, and the right to work. Third, promoting the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights in backward areas through a 

series of affirmative government actions.

 

 

Associate Professor Liu Ming of Nankai University believed that the protection of the rights of special groups is an important part of China’s human rights protection system and an inherent requirement for the realization of social fairness and justice. In the 30 years since China issued its first human rights white paper in 1991, the relevant provisions on the human rights protection of special groups in the human rights white papers contained relevant pursuit of justice. The white paper Moderate Prosperity in All Respects: Another Milestone Achieved in China’s Human Rights released in August 2021 puts forward “promoting social equity and protecting the rights of special groups,” indicating that the state has raised the protection of the rights of special groups to the height of fairness and justice.

 

 

Professor Gong Xianghe of Southeast University pointed out that China’s right to education has developed remarkably since the release of the white paper. He proposed that education is a top priority for people’s livelihoods and a necessity in people’s lives. The right to education is not only the basic right of citizens but also the premise and means of enjoying other human rights. It is precisely because of the unique intrinsic value of the right to education and its extreme importance to other human rights that in the 30 years since the release of the first human rights white paper, China has “promoted the all-round development of human beings” and “promoted the protection of human rights through development.” China attaches great importance to the right to education as a necessity of life and a basic human right. In the great process of promoting China’s all-round economic and social development, the comprehensive protection of citizens’ right to education has created a miracle in the development of this right for the largest population in the world.

 

 

Professor Chang An of Northwest University of Politics and Law delved into the outstanding contributions that the white paper has made to the development of human rights of ethnic minorities in China. The seventh part of this white paper is “the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities,” which systematically and comprehensively expounds on the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities in China by proceeding from China’s basic national conditions as a unified multi-ethnic country, the basic principles for dealing with ethnic relations, the system of regional national autonomy, the political rights, economic, social, cultural rights, labor rights, medical and health rights, cultural and educational rights of ethnic minorities. In the following 30 years, China has issued several white papers related to the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities, which made an important contribution to telling the Chinese story in this regard.

 

Zhang Han, a doctoral student at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, believed that in view of the prejudice and misunderstanding of the international community toward China’s ethnic minorities in border areas, these white papers can clarify misunderstandings and become an important window to show the actual situation of human rights of ethnic minorities in such border areas as the Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions.

 

 

“Human rights” are a concept that has been constantly developing. From civil and political rights to economic, social, and cultural rights, to collective human rights, and then to digital human rights in modern society, they constantly accommodate social needs, conform to people’s common aspirations for development, enrich and expand its connotations, and express the people’s ideas and pursuit of a better life in different historical stages. Three important consensuses can be drawn from representatives’ papers and speeches at this meeting.

 

First, the Chinese philosophy of human rights established by the human rights white paper in 1991 is in line with China’s national conditions and development path and is one of the achievements of adapting Marxism to Chinese conditions. As the product of history, human rights are neither natural nor innate, nor eternal. Their subject, content, and form will continue to develop and change. This white paper demonstrated the Marxist view of human rights, that is, the view of human rights with Chinese characteristics. “We must not follow the Western view of human rights and be trapped by the Western argument”. We should proceed from China’s history and reality, correctly explain China’s efforts and achievements in advancing the human rights cause, and build China’s theoretical system of human rights step by step.

 

Second, over the past 30 years since the release of the white paper, China’s human rights cause has completed the basic work of theoretical construction and path exploration and established a human rights discourse system and human rights protection system in line with China’s history and social development stage. Today, China’s human rights practice has achieved fruitful results and can stand the test of history and the scrutiny of the international community.

 

Third, the white paper conveyed China’s human rights discourse in the form of an official document for the first time and made clear China’s position on human rights to the world. Since then, China has actively participated in global human rights cooperation and contributed Chinese wisdom to promoting the progress of the world’s human rights cause. The concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” put forward by China emphasizes that international cooperation can bring win-win results and common development can benefit all. Only diversified governance subjects can ensure that the vast majority of people will eventually enjoy the dividends of global development and effectively promote the sustainable development of global human rights governance.

 

The global landscape in the pandemic era has proved that it is difficult for the old global governance system to ensure that the majority of developing countries, especially the least developed countries, equally enjoy the dividends of development and governance. The Global South is generally facing the dilemma of “lack of development” and developing countries lack channels to make themselves heard in the globalized system. China has explored and constructed unique human rights philosophy, concepts, and goals, solidly and firmly promoted domestic human rights practice, and actively participated in international human rights cooperation. China’s human rights cause has developed steadily and its international influence is also increasing. Looking forward, China’s human rights cause is bound to make new and greater achievements.