On December 5, 2023, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the opening ceremony of the International Symposium Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Beijing.

Wang Yi said, 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 its national realities, China has made leapfrog progress in its human rights cause. China has opened a new path for human rights development that adapts to the changing times and suits its national conditions. Since China 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.

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

Second, China has taken a people-centered approach to human rights, and the people's position as masters of the country is fully guaranteed. China has further advanced its socialist democracy, and steadily improved its whole-process people's democracy. China has 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.

Third, 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. China has further enhanced its 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. Xizang is full of vibrancy and prosperity. People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are 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.

Fourth, 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.