Commentary: China's human rights progress speaks for itself

Children have fun on Dove Lane in Hotan City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Sadat)

BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- China upholds a combination of the principle of universal human rights and the nation's actual conditions, and rejects any "instructor" monopolizing the human rights narratives.

The International Conference on the Communist Party of China and the Progress on Human Rights in China held on Thursday has shown China's achievements and experience in advancing human rights development, which the country is willing to share with the world.

When viewing and discussing human rights, one should first have a comprehensive and objective understanding of human rights in a country or region. For China, the ultimate human right is that people can lead a happy life. With this philosophy, China's human rights development is evident to all.

Since its reform and opening up in the late 1970s, China has lifted more than 770 million people out of poverty. The Chinese people's life expectancy has risen to 77.3 years. The country's education, social security and healthcare systems as well as its grassroots democratic institutions are all the largest in the world. It has made major strategic achievements in the battle against COVID-19, protecting people's lives and dignity.

These achievements demonstrate that China has put the people first during its development and ensured that the people are their own masters. Believing that the rights to subsistence and development are primary basic human rights, the country has carved out a human rights development path with Chinese characteristics.

However, some Western politicians have turned a deaf ear to these basic facts and continued to slander and smear China's efforts in protecting human rights. They have used human rights as a weapon that serves their political purposes. Such a ploy cannot fool the world and will only expose their desperate attempts to shift blame amid their own human rights crises.

Rather than lecturing others on human rights, what these Western politicians should do is to earnestly reflect on their own deeds and correct their own human rights problems.

The international community should develop a more constructive view of human rights. Countries, including the developing nations, should all have a say.

In terms of human rights protection, there is no one perfect path, but many effective approaches. China will continue to be an active player in advancing human rights development, proactively participate in global human rights governance and jointly build a community with a shared future for humanity.