Human rights in China will be well protected under the leadership
of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which vows to "represent the
fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese
people," experts said Thursday.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin stressed the importance of respecting
and protecting human rights in his report to the just-concluded
16th CPC National Congress, demonstrating the importance attached
by the Chinese leadership to the welfare of the Chinese people.
At
meeting of the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS),
Vice-President Yang Zhengquan said that human rights, as part of
the superstructure, is decided by the corresponding economic
base.
Efforts made by the CPC to meet the Chinese people's basic
requirements for food and clothing, to build a well-off society,
and to realize the common wealth of all Chinese people originate
from the Party's fundamental goal of uplifting the living standards
and quality of life of Chinese people, Yang told the CSHRS
executive council meeting.
Human rights experts participating in meeting said that as China
has begun building a well-off society in a comprehensive way, the
country's human rights cause will embrace some changes.
CSHRS Vice-President Fan Guoxiang said not only the rights of the
working class, which includes intellectuals, and farmers, but also
those from the social strata that contribute to the country's
development should be duly protected.
"All the legal incomes of people who play a role in building
socialism with Chinese characteristics should be safeguarded
according to law," said Fan.
Fan also said human rights should be viewed in the overall
framework of society's development and could not be judged
independent of specific social conditions.
Zhang Hongyi, a professor from Beijing Normal University, said
China's concept that the rights to subsist, develop, vote and stand
for election should be linked with national sovereignty when
defining people's human rights was a more objective and scientific
definition of human rights than that advocated by some Western
countries.
CSHRS Vice-President Dong Yunhu said the fact that the CPC has
given top priority to China's development would help better protect
the rights of the Chinese people.
"Human beings are the most important productive forces. The
protection and development of human rights will help to promote the
development of productive forces," said Dong.
Other experts said development was not only a direction but also a
measure of society's progress. Meanwhile, development was not only
one of the basic human rights but also a precondition of human
rights protection.
Liu Hainian, a law professor from the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, believed the rights of Chinese citizens being protected
by laws and regulations would become a more important feature of
Chinese society in the next two decades.
The participants also discussed the urgent need to launch a
complete set of human rights theories catering to China's situation
as soon as possible.
(People's Daily November 22, 2002)