On February 27, 2023, Foreign Minister Qin Gang attended the High-level Segment of the 52nd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Beijing via video link and delivered a speech titled Following a Chinese Path of Human Rights Development and Contributing China's Strength to Global Human Rights Governance.

Qin Gang said the COVID-19 pandemic is still lingering. The global economy is at risk of a recession. Food and energy crises, disruptions to industrial and supply chains, climate change and other global problems keep emerging. The international human rights cause is facing severe challenges. Given these new circumstances and tasks, we need to ask ourselves: How to better promote and protect human rights? How to enhance and improve global human rights governance? In answering these questions, China wishes to propose the following:

First, committing to a path of human rights development that suits the realities of each country. The right of all countries to independently choose one's own path of human rights development should be respected. Blindly copying the model of others would be ill-fitted for one's own conditions, and imposing one's model upon others would entail endless troubles.

Second, committing to the comprehensive promotion and protection of all human rights. Human rights are indivisible. The right to subsistence and the right to development are basic human rights of primary importance. Civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights should be accorded equal attention and advanced in a holistic way. More attention should be paid to the human rights challenges facing developing countries and their human rights needs. Unilateral coercive measures violate international law and the basic human rights of the people of the countries concerned, and should be lifted immediately and unconditionally.

Third, committing to international fairness and justice. No country is qualified to act as the judge on human rights, and human rights should not be used as a pretext for meddling in other countries' internal affairs or holding back other countries' development. The purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be observed by all, and human rights exchanges and cooperation should be carried out on the basis of equality and mutual respect. The acts by some to politicize, weaponize and instrumentalize human rights issues should be opposed. The practices of lecturing and finger-pointing on others' human rights, while ignoring and failing to solve one's own serious human rights problems should be rejected.

Fourth, committing to dialogue and cooperation. The Human Rights Council should be a stage for constructive dialogue and cooperation, rather than an arena for political manipulation and bloc confrontation. The Council should be UN-membership-led. Only by following the principles of impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity and non-politicization can the UN human rights system function well and bring continued positive energy to the international human rights cause.

Qin Gang stressed that the Communist Party of China held its 20th National Congress. A blueprint was drawn for advancing national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization. The process of Chinese modernization is also a process of advancement in human rights. China has found a path of human rights development that meets the trend of the times and suits its national conditions. This path holds the key to the country's historic achievements in human rights, and China will stay on this path going forward.

Qin Gang said some forces with hidden agenda keep hyping up issues related to China's Xinjiang and Xizang in an attempt to smear China and suppress its development. We firmly oppose such moves. We welcome all fair-minded people from across the world to China to visit more places and see more things, to learn what is truly happening on the ground. Since the legislation on safeguarding national security in Hong Kong took effect, Hong Kong is at a new stage where it has restored order and is set to thrive. We will remain steadfast in fully and faithfully implementing the policy of One Country, Two Systems, firmly safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintain Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.

Regarding the Japanese government's decision to release contaminated water of the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, Qin Gang stressed this is not Japan's private business and this decision bears on the security of the global eco-environment and the right to health of people around the world. Countries should urge Japan to take the legitimate concern of the international community seriously, fulfill its due international obligations, and deal with the nuclear waste water in an open, transparent, science-based and safe manner.

Qin Gang said as the new year starts, China is ready to work with all parties to advance the global cause of human rights protection, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.