China has done a beautiful thing in this fiercely contested field of human rights | World | China

This is a fiercely contested and highly sensitive field.

Which field?

Human rights!

We don't have to avoid it either. For a considerable period of time in the past, human rights were the leverage of the West, and many developing countries, including China, were relatively passive, with an awkward situation of being scolded and difficult to fight back.

But the situation is also changing, and on September 20th, China did a beautiful thing.

On this day, a seminar called the "China Europe Human Rights Seminar" was held in Rome, the capital of Italy, with the theme of "Modernization and Diversity of Human Rights Civilizations".

I am honored to be present on site, both online and offline, with over 130 representatives from 16 countries including China. Many are authoritative scholars in the field of domestic law, as well as well-known foreign experts.

You read it right, the human rights seminar was held in Rome.

The conference room on site was packed, and many people could only stand.

Moreover, the seminar was broadcast live on Facebook, Tiktok and other domestic and foreign social platforms.

The West believes that we will avoid discussing, but we tend to talk loudly, come to Rome, openly, and discuss the diversity of modernization and human rights civilization.

This kind of openness, this kind of confidence, to be honest, feels quite unusual.

At the scene, Bai Machilin, the President of the China Association for Human Rights Studies, said: Rome was not built in a day, and the development and improvement of human rights are not achieved overnight. We need to work hard day by day and work hard for a long time. Here, I sincerely invite all guests to come to China to take a walk and take a look, and experience the rapid development of China and the practice of human rights protection.

Saying our human rights are not good?

Can you come and take a walk and take a look in person.

Definitely, seeing is better than hearing.

What is the art of struggle?

This is the art of struggle.

The discussion was very lively and impressive, with the appearance of Mr. Di Liberto, former Minister of Justice of Italy and Law School of the University of Rome.

Although it was in Rome, the old man did not attend the scene and participated in the video.

Why?

When he appeared on the screen, the whole audience laughed because he still had two patches on his left eye and didn't wear a black eye mask like Scholz, but his left eye was also colored.

But even if he is sick like this, why does Dean Di still attend?

It is the special emphasis placed on this seminar. According to Diliberto, such academic exchange is a great form of communication and has built a good bridge between China and Europe.

In his words, we cannot build walls between us, we need to communicate more. China and Italy actually recognize the differences in civilization, and we need to seek common ground while reserving differences and seek common cooperation goals.

It has to be said that he has some eye problems, but his vision is very unique.

This kind of discussion has indeed sparked a strong resonance.

What is human rights?

In the eyes of 100 people, there may be 100 human rights concepts. But one thing is clear: for many countries, human rights are first and foremost the right to survival and development.

Without survival, where is human rights?

Without development, what are human rights?

Without comparison, progress cannot be seen. Without justice, how can we talk about human rights?

The forum held in Rome showcased China's tremendous achievements in poverty alleviation and the dual standards in the field of human rights worldwide, which left foreign guests deeply moved.

This forum left a deep impression on me, as well as a speech from Lord Davidson, a member of the House of Lords in the UK.

He admitted that some political parties in the UK particularly like to use the term human rights to attack political parties in other countries. They always issue orders to other countries to abide by human rights, but they refuse to abide by their own beliefs. What kind of irony is this?

Mr. Wang Wen, Executive Dean of the Chongyang Institute of Finance at Renmin University of China, also shared three phenomena he observed in Rome this time.

1. Europe is very dirty, Rome is very dirty. According to Wang Wen, according to China's evaluation criteria, Rome cannot be rated as a civilized city; 2. Europe is very expensive, with prices generally at least two or three times higher than Beijing, but the income of Italians is not very high; 3. Many devices in Europe have aged, and new energy vehicles are almost invisible on the streets, but in China, new energy vehicles can be seen everywhere.

As a result, one issue that arises is that he is now more concerned about the human rights of Europeans, so we must all avoid ignorance, avoid arrogance, and respect the development of human rights.

His criticism, with some elements of mockery, can also be considered a warning from his close friend.

Lastly, let me share three personal opinions.

Firstly, we must face human rights squarely.

Indeed, human rights are not a patent of the West, they should be a common right of all humanity. To be frank, every country, including China, still has some shortcomings in human rights.

Other countries do not care, but for us, we still need to face it head-on, learn from each other's strengths and make up for each other's weaknesses, and make improvements if there are any, and encourage others if there are none.

The more we avoid this issue, the more demonized the West will be, and the more passive we will be.

On human rights issues, there is no best, only better. Continuously making progress will make us more proactive, and we should also have this full confidence.

Secondly, we must still be good at struggle.

To be honest, in the current complex world, it is difficult to dare to fight, but even more difficult to be good at fighting.

But this is a time of testing one's level and ability.

The field of human rights is very sensitive and an important tool for the West to smear us, but it is precisely us who have made stunning progress in human rights, especially the historic achievement of poverty alleviation. This has amazed the whole world.

What is moral governance?

I always feel that this is the greatest virtue!

We should speak frankly and tell the story of China well through various means, so that the world can see the progress of our human rights and counter the false accusations of certain people.

So, I saw that on site, many foreign experts praised China's poverty alleviation.

The eyes of the people of the world are bright after all.

Thirdly, it is important to be confident and calm.

I see that the organizers of this meeting are very dedicated, mostly consisting of a Chinese guest and then a European guest. There were discussions and collisions of viewpoints on site, but there was more consensus and resonance.

We need to take the initiative, design a good topic, and make the world think about what human rights really are? What else does the world need to do?

Another characteristic of this forum is that it allows foreign friends to boldly speak about their understanding and recognition of human rights, talk about the progress and challenges of human rights in their countries, and also share their views and suggestions on human rights in China.

More importantly, this third-party perspective allows the world to see our progress. Of course, there are also some of our shortcomings, and what other contributions can we make to the world?

Tang Xianwen, Secretary General of the Chinese Association for Human Rights Studies, mentioned two famous quotes in his English speech. One is a Western proverb: All roads lead to Rome; One sentence is a Chinese idiom: different paths lead to the same goal.

Human rights should be like this. There is no one standard in this world, but they can learn from each other and promote the progress of human rights in the world.

I have listened to many guest speeches and feel that the most concentrated opinion is also my aversion to Western arrogance and prejudice.

This is not limited to the field of human rights.

Marcelli, former director of the Institute of International Law at the Italian National Research Institute, said that some people in Europe tend to be condescending. For example, in the field of electric vehicles, he believes that China has made significant progress, but EU leaders have recently threatened sanctions.

"This is a very sad and pitiful threat, as if she were the master of the world," he joked.