Keynote Address by H.E.Wang Yi
At the Opening Ceremony of the International Symposium
Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Beijing, December 5, 2023

Distinguished Guests,
Friends,

Good morning. It is a pleasure to meet you all, my old and new friends, here in Beijing and join you in the celebration of 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in a discussion on how best to promote human rights advancement worldwide. On behalf of the Chinese government, I wish to extend a very warm welcome to all distinguished participants of the symposium.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is of great significance for the development of human civilization. It has a profound impact on human rights advancement across the world. Over the past 75 years, the international community has worked relentlessly toward the goal envisaged in the Declaration. The promotion and protection of human rights has taken deep root in people’s hearts. The international human rights system has been improved. And countries around the world have taken more effective measures to promote and protect human rights.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government have always considered the promotion and protection of human rights to be essential. Applying the principle of universality of human rights to our national realities, China has made leapfrog progress in its human rights cause. We have opened a new path for human rights development that adapts to the changing times and suits our national conditions. Since we entered the new era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has prioritized respecting and protecting human rights as an important aspect of national governance and scored a series of new, historic achievements.

China has always taken development as the foundation for human rights and has ensured more effectively the rights to subsistence and development for our people. We have eradicated absolute poverty, once and for all, on our land. We have met the target of poverty reduction set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. We, the over 1.4 billion Chinese people, have achieved moderate prosperity in all respects. We have established the world’s largest education, social security, and health care systems. All our people now enjoy more equal access to more fruits and benefits of development.

China has taken a people-centered approach to human rights, and the people’s position as masters of the country is fully guaranteed. We have further advanced our socialist democracy, and steadily improved our whole-process people’s democracy. We have created more forms of democracy and expanded channels for democracy. This allows all the people to engage in law-based democratic elections, consultations, decision-making management and oversight and to manage state affairs in various ways and forms.

China has stayed true to its principle that all its people enjoy human rights equally, and the rights of all ethnic groups and special groups are fully guaranteed and more effectively protected. We have further enhanced our people’s sense of the Chinese nation as one community, and the people of all the 56 ethnic groups remain closely united like the seeds of a pomegranate. Not long ago, I had the privilege to attend the China Xizang Trans-Himalaya Forum for International Cooperation held in Xizang. I saw for myself how vibrant and prosperous the region is. Similarly, people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are also living a thriving life as they work in solidarity to build the autonomous region into an economic hub of the Silk Road Economic Belt and establish a pilot free trade zone. China has also improved its legal system to fully protect the rights of women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

China has participated in global human rights governance, and contributed to worldwide progress in human rights. China has substantially participated in the work of the United Nations Human Rights Council and other multilateral human rights bodies, and has contributed to the adoption of major international human rights conventions and declarations. China's vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind has been incorporated in a number of U.N. Human Rights Council resolutions, providing a Chinese approach to international protection of human rights. China has carried out exchanges and cooperation with U.N. human rights mechanisms and with over 30 countries and regions, contributing to global human rights progress.

There is no end to human rights protection. China’s path to human rights development proves to best suit our national conditions and reflect our people’s wishes. We will remain steadfast on the course. Yet, China is still a developing country and will continue to advance human rights. We will continue to conduct exchanges and dialogue with all countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect so as to learn from each other.

Friends,

Changes on a scale unseen in a century are unfolding at an accelerating pace. Conflicts and confrontation are still raging in some places. The Cold War mindset is still alive. The development divide is widening. These are among the grave challenges confronting global governance of human rights. General Secretary Xi Jinping has said, “The full enjoyment of human rights by all people has long been an ambitious dream of humanity.” The dream will not come true unless the people across the world join hands to make the goal of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a reality. It is a historical responsibility that we must fulfill together. With this in mind, I have the following to propose on behalf of the Chinese side:

First, we must promote common security and create a secure and tranquil international environment for realizing human rights. Security is the foundation and underpinning for human rights. As highlighted by the U.N. Declaration on the Right to Peace, everyone has the right to enjoy peace. We must firmly uphold the U.N.-centered international system and the international order based on international law. Our world must not be allowed to return to the law of the jungle or fall back into the abyss of Cold War confrontation. We must act on the Global Security Initiative (GSI) and pursue common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. We must address complex and intertwined security challenges with an approach of mutual benefit. We must seek to resolve differences and disputes between states through dialogue and consultation. We must see that conflicts and wars will be brought to an end and displaced people return to their home at an early date.

Second, we must prioritize development to provide a more solid material foundation for realizing human rights. Development is an eternal theme of human society. The right to development is of special and paramount importance for developing countries. The Global Development Initiative (GDI) proposed by China aims to help put development back on the international agenda as a core priority and fully implement the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We must bring greater equity, higher efficiency, and stronger synergy to global development. We must build an open world economy, oppose technology blockade, break down technological barriers, and reject development decoupling. We must push for an economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all. We must work together to create an environment favorable for all countries to achieve economic development and growth. We must see that people of all countries enjoy equal rights to development.

Third, we must engage in exchanges and mutual learning to provide more choices of routes to human rights advancement. There are different routes to human rights advancement. There is no such thing as a single authorized model of human rights development. Every country and its people should and do have the right to choose their own path to human rights development that best fits their national reality. We must respect the diversity of world civilizations. We need to act on the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), increase exchanges and mutual learning, and encourage and respect countries in choosing their own path to human rights development. We must see that people of all countries are ensured of human rights fairly through their own modernization drives.

Fourth, we must uphold equity and justice to provide a more effective platform of cooperation for realizing human rights. We must reject any attempt to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs or contain their development under the pretext of human rights. We must say no to any attempt to politicize or instrumentalize human rights issues or use such issues to draw ideological boundaries. We must oppose any attempt to force one’s own values and model upon others or form exclusive circles or blocs against others. The U.N. Human Rights Council and other multilateral human rights bodies must follow the principles of impartiality, objectivity, nonselectivity and nonpoliticization in their work and operation. They must redress the underrepresentation of developing countries in the U.N. human rights mechanisms. They must ensure that the U.N. human rights system truly becomes a platform for dialogue and cooperation instead of an arena for confrontation or for exerting pressure, so as to play a truly positive role in promoting international human rights.

Friends,

Our journey will be long and arduous. But as long as we stay the course, there will be much to anticipate. Going forward, China will continue to promote and protect human rights, participate in global human rights governance, act on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and champion humanity’s common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. China will continue to strive for greater progress in human rights in the world and will work together with other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind and make our world a better place.

I wish this symposium a full success. Thank you.