Promoting human rights through development: What China's experience can offer global governance

Editor's note: Li Changlin is a professor at the Human Rights Research Institute in the Southwest University of Political Science and Law. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

As global challenges continue to test the international human rights system, the relationship between development and human rights has become increasingly significant. China's experience suggests that development is not only an economic objective but also a fundamental pathway to advancing human rights.

Over the past decades, China has pursued a development-centered approach to human rights, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and establishing the world's largest education, social security and healthcare systems. Steady progress toward common prosperity has further strengthened the material foundation for protecting and promoting human rights. These achievements, made through the collective efforts of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, offer valuable insights for global human rights governance.

Prioritizing the rights to subsistence and development

China regards the rights to subsistence and development as the most fundamental human rights. 

Subsistence is the foundation for enjoying all other human rights, while development is the guarantee for realizing human rights. Only by fully safeguarding the rights to subsistence and development can the great dream of ensuring that everyone fully enjoys human rights be achieved.

Following a path suited to national conditions

China's experience also underscores that there is no universal model for human rights development. Countries differ in history, culture, stages of development and governance systems, and each has the right to pursue a path that reflects its own realities.

Human rights should not be viewed as the exclusive preserve of any particular country or development model. Rather, nations should learn from one another while exploring approaches that best suit their own circumstances and meet the aspirations of their people.

Putting people at the center

Another defining feature of China's human rights philosophy is its people-centered approach. The people are not only participants in advancing human rights but also the ultimate beneficiaries. Policies should therefore begin with and serve the fundamental interests of the people, with the goal of promoting the all-round development of every individual.

This means a country should uphold the principle that a happy life for the people is the greatest human right, and persist in serving the people, relying on the people, benefiting the people and protecting the people. By fully mobilizing the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the people, it is possible to safeguard their interests and continuously enhance their sense of fulfillment, happiness and security. In this view, human rights lose their meaning if they become privileges enjoyed by only a select few rather than rights shared by all.

Advancing human rights through sustainable, peaceful and law-based development

China also emphasizes that human rights development is an ongoing process rather than a finished achievement. It requires balancing immediate public needs with long-term planning while pursuing sustainable development that promotes harmony between humanity and nature.

Equally important are peaceful development and the rule of law. Lasting improvements in human rights cannot be built on conflict or confrontation. Instead, they depend on peaceful international relations, sound legal institutions and governance systems capable of protecting rights and consolidating development gains.

Today, global human rights governance faces growing pressures. Ongoing conflicts, humanitarian crises and forced displacement – including instability in the Middle East, the conflict in South Sudan and the humanitarian situation in Gaza – have severely undermined people's rights to subsistence and development.

These challenges highlight the need for stronger international cooperation rather than geopolitical rivalry. Countries around the world should uphold equal participation, equal decision-making and equal benefit for all nations, firmly reject zero-sum games and bloc confrontation, strengthen close cooperation, and work together to build a fairer, more reasonable and more inclusive global human rights governance system capable of addressing the many challenges facing global human rights governance.