Xinhua Insight: Rights forum underscores China's commitment to peace

A rethinking of China's human rights merits out of a forum in Beijing is based on the country's adherence to the principal of peaceful development.

The 2015 Beijing Forum on Human Rights, which concluded on Thursday, highlighted China's role in defending the right to peace and development.

Tom Zwart, a human rights professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, described a parallel between the defeat of fascism in WWII and the subsequent emergence of human rights protection.

"As it did during WWII, China is and has been playing a decisive role in developing international human rights policy. Its efforts are not only meant to serve the interests of the Chinese people, but also the common interests of the wider global community," said Zwart.

As was the case with China's efforts during WWII, he added, their efforts "have not always received the attention and appreciation they deserve."

One unnoticed aspect, some say, is China's contribution to the right to peace.

PEACE PRIORITIZED

Participants in the forum believed peace is the basic premise for enjoying other basic rights.

The right to peace is an important connotation on human rights and should be prioritized among all affairs, said Bem Angwe from the Nigerian state human rights committee.

China has contributed to peace and human rights improvement in the past, at present and will do so in the future, said Liu Huawen, deputy head of the human rights research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It will assume its due responsibilities as a big country, he added.

The forum coincides with Europe's biggest refugee crisis since WWII, with thousands of people fleeing their war-torn homelands, which again shows that peace is not enjoyed by all.

Huang Mengfu, president of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, said world peace and security is still threatened by a lack of just and forceful measures to guarantee world order.

Mahmoud Karem, head of the Egyptian national human rights commission, noted that people's right to peace has long been ignored. "There is something wrong with current human rights thinking, which excessively stresses Western-style democracy. Sociologists must reflect why Western boys and girls in their thousands are going to our region to join the Islamic State."

Li Junru, vice president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, said that world leaders must discard the cold-war mentality and zero-sum game thinking. "We need to adopt the wisdom of a 'community of common destiny' to address our threats."

EFFORTS FOR PEACE

China held a parade earlier this month to commemorate the war dead and celebrate peace.

"No matter how much stronger it may become, China will never seek hegemony or expansion. It will never inflict its past suffering on any other nation," Xi said in his V-Day speech.

The president also announced a cut of 300,000 troops, a move read by many as a sign of commitment to peaceful development.

The cuts will be China's 11th military reduction since the founding of New China on Oct. 1, 1949, and the fourth since the 1980s. In 1985, China downsized its army by more than 1 million, the largest cut ever.

On the global stage, about 30,000 Chinese soldiers have served in UN's peacekeeping missions, the most among all five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Li Yunlong, a professor at Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, noted that China has not engaged in a single war for over 30 years; China has not dispatched army to be stationed overseas nor established any military base in any foreign country.

"That's why the world should not worry about China's military and its stance in the South China Sea disputes," said Li. Endi