BEIJING - The Chinese government Thursday issued a white paper on the right to development, expounding on its philosophy, practice and contribution.
The white paper, titled "The Right to Development: China's Philosophy, Practice and Contribution," said that development is the top priority of the Communist Party of China in governance and national revitalization , and the key to resolving all other problems.
It said that China is willing to join the international community to share its philosophy and experience and to boost sound development of global human rights.
A legal system with Chinese characteristics has provided a legal basis for the people's right to development, says a white paper
According to the white paper, China has lifted 700 million people out of poverty through more than 30 years of reform and opening-up, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global reduction in poverty.
READ MORE: Full text of China's white paper on legal rights
The average life expectancy in the nation had grown from 35 years in 1949 to 76.34 years in 2015, ranking high among the developing countries, the white paper said.
The level of education has also soared. In 1949, more than 80 percent of the national population was illiterate, and the enrollment rate of school-age children was only 20 percent.
READ MORE: Full text of National Human Rights Action Plan of China
In 2015, net enrollment rate of school-age children at the primary school stage was 99.88 percent and that at the senior high school stage was 87 percent. China's higher education has approached the level of medium-developed countries, the white paper added.
China's Human Development Index (HDI) in 2014 ranked 90th among 188 countries, already in the high human development group, it said, citing the "China National Human Development Report 2016" released by the United Nations.
A legal system with Chinese characteristics has provided a legal basis for the people's right to development, said the white paper, titled "The Right to Development: China's Philosophy, Practice and Contribution."
China has promulgated and implemented a series of laws and regulations to protect the right to development of all citizens, especially that of the ethnic minorities, women, children, senior citizens, and the disabled, it said. To ensure people's right to development, China has issued the National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010), (2012-2015), and (2016-2020), striving to address the most immediate problems that are of the most concern to the public, it added.
The Chinese government has also formulated special action plans in the fields of economy, culture, society, and environment, and built a judicial remedy mechanism to prevent and punish infringements of people's right to development, it added.
In 2014 and 2015, the central government and local governments allocated a total of 2.47 billion yuan and 2.95 billion yuan for judicial relief funds, benefiting over 80,000 parties concerned in 2014, it said.
The government has also made efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of legal aid and ensure the right of impoverished people to judicial relief, it said.
Over the past five years, the number of legal aid cases has been growing by 11.4 percent annually, and women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and rural migrant workers have received timely and higher quality legal aid services, it added.
US$58b in development aid
China has provided approximately 400 billion yuan (about US$58 billion) in development aid to 166 countries and international organizations over the past 60 years, according to the white paper.
According to the white paper titled "The Right to Development: China's Philosophy, Practice and Contribution," the world's current second largest economy has trained more than 12 million personnel from developing countries, and dispatched over 600,000 people to aid development in other countries.
Among them, 700 have given their lives in the course of these programs.
