The protection of human rights and the pursuit of equality represent an ideal shared by the humanity. It is also one that the Chinese people continuously pursue.
The theme for this year's Human Rights Day, which falls on Dec. 10, is equality. Equality is highlighted in China's quest to allow human rights to flourish under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
This is especially evident in China's fight against COVID-19 and the war on absolute poverty.
China puts life above all else and does all it can to treat COVID-19 patients, regardless of age or nationality, even when the pandemic was at its most critical stage straining medical resources in virus-hit regions.
From newborn babies to centenarians, every life was valued and respected.
With a population of 1.4 billion, China records one of the lowest COVID-19 infection and fatality rates across the globe.
As of November 2021, the number of COVID-19 fatalities per 100,000 people on the Chinese mainland was 0.33, with the global average being 202 times higher and the average in the United States being 707 times higher.
Vaccines are a powerful weapon to protect people from the coronavirus. About 1.235 billion people on the mainland have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The country is also pushing for fair distribution of vaccines across the world for the sake of equality, particularly in developing countries, so that humanity can close the immunity gap as soon as possible.
China has provided more than 1.85 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 120 countries and international organizations, more than any other country in the world.
Another big obstacle in realizing equality is poverty.
China announced earlier this year that it had eradicated absolute poverty after lifting its remaining 98.99 million rural residents out of poverty over the previous eight years.
Throughout the years, tremendous resources were mobilized nationwide to fight poverty. Across the country, everyone mired in extreme poverty received help, regardless of their locality or ethnic group.
The eradication of absolute poverty means that China has realized the poverty reduction goal set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.
China believes that the greatest human right is a happy life for the people. It is committed to promoting and protecting human rights through greater development.
At the same time, China is ready to work with others to make the world a better place and achieve human rights for all. According to the estimates of the World Bank, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, for example, could contribute to lifting 7.6 million people from extreme poverty and 32 million from moderate poverty.
Human rights are universal, but the paths toward them are diverse, and the best ones are the fitting ones. To realize equality, the rights of people in all countries to independently choose their own development paths must be respected.
It has been proven time and again that democracy or human rights models imposed from the outside do not work.
Countries should increase exchanges and mutual learning in order to find the human rights development path that best suits their own national circumstances and people's needs. Enditem
