Incisively Understanding and Scientifically Interpreting the Contemporary Chinese Perspective of Human Rights
JIANG Jianguo*
The report delivered by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, to the 20th CPC National Congress laid out goals, tasks, and major policies for developing the cause of the Party and the country for the next five years and more, clarified a number of defining, fundamental and strategically significant issues and put forward a series of new ideas, strategies and measures. It is a programmatic document that guides China to build a modern socialist country in all respects and advance toward the Second Centenary Goal. It is also a guide of the times for us to advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, demonstrating great power in ideology, theory and practice. In the report, General Secretary Xi Jinping reiterated the need to “follow a Chinese path of human rights development”. Before that, he had mentioned the “contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights”. He pointed out that we should “carry out education on human rights knowledge among all the people, especially youngsters, and incorporate the education on Marxist concepts of human rights and the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights into the national education system”. He also called for “telling China’s human rights stories well, and using vivid, specific expressive methods to enrich the attraction, appeal and influence of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights”. He stated that “all officials at various levels, especially those at leading positions, should consciously study Marxist concepts of human rights and the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights, enhance their understanding and confidence, and advance the work of respecting and protecting human rights on all fronts”. These important statements by General Secretary Xi Jinping not only provide fundamental guidelines for accelerating China’s human rights cause along the new journey in the new era, but also create new realms for us to advance the research and publicity of human rights.
China’s correct path of human rights development is attributed to its rational outlook on human rights. Here, I would like to share some of my views on how to deeply study and implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and further understand and interpret the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights.
I. From the Theoretical Perspective, the Contemporary Chinese Outlook on Human Rights Boasts a Complete Theoretical System
The contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights is rooted in China’s specific human rights practice. It has formed a theoretical system with people as the center, the rights to subsistence and development as the primary and basic human rights, living a happy life as the principal human rights, development as the driving force, and building a community with a shared future for mankind as the mission and vision. The people-centered principle is the soul and foundation of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. We need to respect people’s status as the masters of the country, safeguard their democratic rights, and constantly realize, safeguard and advance the fundamental interests of all our people. Adherence to the idea that the rights to subsistence and development are the primary and basic human rights is the paramount principle for the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. The right to subsistence is the prerequisite and foundation for people to enjoy other rights, and the right to development is connected to all other human rights, which creates conditions for human development. Living a life of contentment is the ultimate human right, which is the fundamental pursuit of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. We need to resolve the most practical problems that are of the greatest and most direct concern to the people, and increase their sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security, with the realization of free, all-round human development as the ultimate goal. Promoting human rights through development is an important methodology of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. Pursuing high-quality development is the primary task for building a modern socialist country in all respects. We should guarantee and improve people’s livelihoods and protect and promote human rights through development. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind reflects the global attention for the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. We should attach importance to human development and contribute to building an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.
II. From the Practical Perspective, the Contemporary Chinese Outlook on Human Rights Has Formed a Unique Practice Approach
The practice approach of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights is, with the CPC as the core force, aligning the Party’s governing strategies with the building of the state system, safeguarding all rights of the people, and advancing the development of the global human rights cause.
The practice approach includes: First, upholding the leadership of the CPC, giving full play to the Party’s core role in providing overall leadership and coordinating the efforts of all sides, and leveraging the superiority of the socialist system, so as to provide strong political and institutional support for the development of China’s human rights cause; Second, respecting and protecting humans rights as an integral part of state governance, establishing constitutional principles and governance principles for respecting and protecting human rights, and implementing a series of national development plans for respecting and protecting human rights; Third, making development the top priority of state governance and national rejuvenation, laying a solid material foundation for the realization of human rights through high-quality development, ensuring more fruits of development benefit all the people in a more equitable way, and promoting common prosperity for all; Fourth, guaranteeing the people’s status as the masters of the country by developing whole-process people’s democracy, promoting the system of democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and supervision on all fronts, fully safeguarding the people’s democratic rights, and reinforcing the fundamental system to ensure the people are the masters of the country; Fifth, comprehensively advancing law-based governance, ensuring the requirement of respecting and protecting human rights is implemented in legislation, law enforcement, administration of justice, and observance of the law, and constantly enhancing the legal protection of human rights; Sixth, completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, accelerating economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress in a coordinated manner, and meeting people’s expectations for a high-quality and happy life; Seventh, actively participating in global human rights governance, fulfilling international human rights obligations, contributing to the cause of world peace and progress, and advancing the development of the global human rights cause.
III. From the Perspective of Historical Background, the Contemporary Chinese Outlook on Human Rights is a Combination of Human Civilization and China’s Realities
The formation of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights is a combined result of the Sinicization of Marxist human rights theories and the successful experiences of China’s human rights cause. It is rooted in fine traditional Chinese culture, learns from the excellent fruits of human civilizations, and conforms to the basic consensus of humanity.
Marxist human rights theories are the fundamental feature of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. Doctrines on humans are the core part of Marxist human rights theories, and promoting the all-round development of people is an inheritance and enrichment of the Marxist theory on the “all-round development of human beings”. The successful experiences of China’s human rights cause are the practical root of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. China upholds the basic standing, views and methods of Marxist human rights concepts, which continue to align with China’s social and political conditions in different development stages, and focuses on solving practical problems concerning the country’s reform, opening up and socialist modernization in the new era. The fine traditional Chinese culture serves as the overarching gene flowing in the blood vessels of the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. The people-centered philosophy embedded in Chinese culture, such as “benevolence”, “putting people first” and “love without distinction”, as well as the Chinese people’s aspiration for a happy life, manifest care for human dignity and value. The ancient sayings such as “The people are indeed heavily burdened, and now they deserve some degree of prosperity; Respond to the demand of people in the capital, and then benefit people around the country” and “Appreciate the culture of others as do to one’s own, and the world will become a harmonious whole” depict the state of an ideal society in the minds of Chinese people. The excellent fruits of human civilizations provide important nourishments for the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights. Protecting human life, value and dignity and ensuring everyone enjoys human rights are the shared pursuit of human society. That all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights is fully demonstrated in the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights.
IV. From the Perspective of Values, the Contemporary Chinese Outlook on Human Rights Breaks New Ground in the Human Rights Civilization of Mankind
The theory, path, system and practice manifested in the contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights have formed a new form of human rights civilization, enriching and developing the diversity of human civilizations.
China insists on combining the law of human society development with the priorities of its human rights cause. The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind China proposed has been written into several UN resolutions, contributing Chinese wisdom to enriching global human rights theories. China contends combining the universality of human rights value with its own development stage and seeking to promote development with peace and advance human rights through development. By doing so, it has embarked on a Chinese path to modernization that features peaceful development, providing an alternative path for global human rights governance. China also insists on combining the universality of human rights obligations with its social and political conditions. It has built and constantly improved the fundamental, basic and important system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and refuses to view the diverse and colorful political systems around the world with a single lens, providing an alternative system for global human rights development.
The contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights is a review of the development history of China’s human rights cause, a summarization of vivid human rights practices of contemporary China, and an extraction of China’s basic propositions and key views on human rights. With the advancement of the new journey in the new era, the contemporary Chinese outlook on humanity must continuously enrich and develop accordingly.
Human rights researchers around China are expected to hone original concepts based on the country’s human rights development, advance China’s disciplinary, academic and discourse systems on human rights, tell stories of China’s human rights governance with academic discourse, and form more significant research results and influential human rights theories.
The China Society for Human Rights Studies will further strengthen the work to organize, coordinate and serve human rights researchers and create better conditions for them to conduct relevant research. Particularly, it will further facilitate communication and exchange between academic institutions and government departments and expand information channels, so as to enable valuable human rights research results to transform into human rights practice.
(Translated by LIU Haile)
* JIANG Jianguo ( 蒋建国 ), Vice Chairman of the Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and executive vice president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies. This paper is his speech delivered at the seminar on “Deeply Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and Adhering to the Chinese Path of Human Rights Development” held by the China Society for Human Rights Studies on November 8, 2022.
