China protects civil, political rights with law, governance: white paper

BEIJING -- China had taken vigorous measures protecting civil and political rights with law and governance in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, said a white paper Thursday.

Titled "Moderate Prosperity in All Respects: Another Milestone Achieved in China's Human Rights," the white paper was released by the State Council Information Office.

The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have pursued a people-centered development philosophy, and adopted vigorous and practical measures to develop whole-process people's democracy, uphold social equity and justice and ensure by law that people enjoy more extensive rights and freedoms, said the white paper.

China ensures the principal status of the people and expands people's democratic rights, noted the white paper, adding that the country does so by implementing orderly democratic election processes, steadily advancing socialist consultative democracy, improving community-level self-governance, and protecting the rights to know, to participate, to express views and to supervise the exercise of power.

On protecting personal rights, the white paper underscored China's efforts to respect and protect personal liberty, facilitate the movement of people, secure personal information and privacy by law, and protect the lawful rights and interests of detainees and prisoners.

The country also attaches great importance to the protection of individual property rights, and improves it with fairness as the core principle. It has provided legal guarantee for optimizing the business environment and strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights, the white paper noted.

China has also reinforced judicial guarantee for human rights by steadily advancing judicial reform, improving protection for judicial personnel to perform their duties, as well as preventing and redressing miscarriages of justice, according to the white paper.

In addition, China has also strengthened the protection of lawyers' practicing rights, increased transparency in the administration of justice and improved the legal aid system.

The country has also taken concrete measures to protect freedom of religious belief, said the white paper.