On 5 October 1998, Ambassador Qin Huasun, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations, singed on behalf of the Chinese Government the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights at the UN Headquarters. The document is one of the most important legal instruments on human rights that the United Nations has ever formulated. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 December 1966 and has since been open to signature. The document contains 53 articles and has become effective since 23 March 1976. The three legal instruments of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights are generally called the "international human rights charter".

The Chinese Government believes that the principle of the universality of human rights must be respected, but the specific conditions of each country must also be taken into consideration in observing this principle. In such a large developing country with a population of 1.2 billion like China, it is essential to protect and promote the right to subsistence and the right to development of its people. Over the past five decades, especially the past 20 years and more since the introduction of reform and opening-up, China has largely succeeded in meeting the basic needs of its people and improving their living standards significantly. It has thus ensured its people greater enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights. China, which is a socialist country under the rule of law, attaches equal importance to the civil and political rights. It opposes any encroachment upon the citizens' lawful rights. Since 1978, the legislative body of China has made more than 300 laws and law-related decisions. As a result, China has a fairly complete set of laws for the protection of human rights. These progress and achievements that China has obtained have laid a solid foundation for China's signature and accession to more international legal instruments on human rights.

The Chinese Government attaches importance to the positive role that international legal instruments on human rights have played in promoting and protecting human rights. China has so far acceded to 17 such legal instruments, such as The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In October 1997, China singed the International Convention on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. China's signature on the International Convention on the Civil and Political Rights further demonstrates its firm determination to promote and protect human rights and it is also a concrete action that it has taken to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.