Chinese government should adopt stance reflecting point reached in international recognition of human rights: JCP

The Chinese government refused to allow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and his family members to go to Oslo to attend the Nobel Prize award ceremony held on December 10. Furthermore, it requested other nations to not send their delegates to the ceremony. As a result, how the Chinese government deals with human rights issues has again attracted international attention.

The Japanese Communist Party considers that in order for a socio-economic system to have taken root in society in the true sense of the word, regardless of socio-economic system, it is important to envisage a development into a political system that makes it a rule to respond to any critical remarks of the political system without banning such criticism. Since the 1998 normalization of relations between the JCP and the Communist Party of China, the JCP at every occasion has frankly stated this position.

Regarding human rights issues, the need for the Chinese government is to adopt a stance reflecting the present international recognition of basic human rights.

The Chinese government supported the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was adopted by the UN Assembly in 1966. In addition, China also agreed to the 1993 Vienna Declaration.

The Vienna Declaration states that because the development of freedom and human rights is varied in different countries, “national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind”, and that any country should not be forced to accept a specific type of system.

It also proclaims that all human rights and fundamental freedoms are universal and thus “to promote and protect” all human rights and fundamental freedoms are “the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems.”

JCP Chair Shii Kazuo in his speech at the Akahata Festival in November said, “I strongly hope that China will adopt a stance that reflects this present international recognition and will earn the global trust and understanding in the field of human rights and freedom.”

- Akahata, December 11, 2010