In a white paper released by the State Council Information Office on Thursday, China said that it had taken "vigorous measures" from the perspectives of law and governance to protect civil and political rights in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, a goal which President Xi Jinping announced China had achieved in July.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government pursue "a people-centered development philosophy," according to the white paper titled "Moderate Prosperity in All Respects: Another Milestone Achieved in China's Human Rights."
The term "moderately prosperous society," or "xiaokang" in Chinese, captures the country's broader goals of modernization and elimination of poverty.
The paper hailed the government's efforts in expanding people's democratic rights, personal rights, property rights as well as the judicial guarantee for human rights, among others.
Expansion of democratic rights
China has worked to "diversify the forms of democracy and establish more democratic channels," said the paper, detailing the examples of community-level self-governance, consultative democracy and the guarantee for people's rights to vote, stand for election, express views and supervise the exercise of power.
Official data shows that in the elections for the congresses at the county and township levels in 2016, more than 1 billion constituents cast votes for nearly 2.5 million deputies.
On protecting personal rights, the white paper underscored China's efforts to respect and protect personal liberty, facilitate people's movement, secure personal information and privacy by law, and protect the lawful rights and interests of detainees and prisoners.
A court session in China. /CGTN
The country also attaches great importance to the protection of individual property rights and has been improving it on the core principle of fairness, the paper said. It has provided legal guarantee for optimizing the business environment and strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights, it added.
Judicial guarantee for human rights
Moreover, the country has further pushed for judicial reform by implementing "all-round judicial accountability reform."
The reform guides the allocation of judicial functions and powers, while improving the state of protection for judicial personnel during the performance of their duties as well as preventing and redressing miscarriages of justice, according to the white paper.
China has also strengthened the protection of lawyers' rights to practice law, increased transparency in the administration of justice and improved the legal aid system, the paper read.
In addition, the country has taken concrete measures to protect freedom of religious belief, said the white paper.
(With input from Xinhua)