Survival, Development Primary Issues for China

Survival and development rights of people remain the primary issues for China's human rights development, an expert in the field said Wednesday.

Solving the problems of survival and development of more than 1.3 billion people is always the primary task for the country, according to Huang Mengfu, chairman of China Foundation for Human Rights Development.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the fifth Beijing Forum on Human Rights, Huang said, "The development of human rights should start from the fundamental reality of the country."

Huang made the comments despite the world's second largest economy raising its people's per capita GDP from 800 to more than 5,000 U.S. dollars in 12 years.

China has always combined the universality of human rights with the nation's basic reality, stressing the promotion of comprehensive improvement of human rights protection through scientific, sustainable economic development, Huang said.

China has strived to achieve a coordinated development of people's political, economical, social, cultural and civil rights, said Huang, adding people have fully enjoyed various human rights being protected by law.

China's Constitution has comprehensive rules on the fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens. The state has created a legal system concerning human rights composed of 240 laws, 700 administrative rules and more than 8,600 local regulations centering on the Constitution, according to Huang.

In recent years, China has established a social security system covering most people, and realized free basic education.

History, culture and social structure differ in thousands of ways among many countries, therefore different opinions and divergence in human rights issues are inevitable, said Huang

Huang said China is open for human rights cooperation and exchanges with all nations and will participate in international human rights affairs more actively, in order to promote the healthy development of the world human rights cause.