China's virus battle protects, promotes human rights

Beijing, 15 January (2021) - China is sparing no efforts in fighting the ongoing novel coronavirus epidemic. By doing this, the world's most populous country is effectively protecting its people's rights to subsistence and development, which are primary basic human rights.

However, that has been ignored by human rights critics such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), a self-claimed global human rights protector whose latest report alleged that the Chinese government's authoritarianism was on full display in fighting the novel coronavirus in 2020.

The groundless accusation runs counter to one basic reasoning: The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The rights to life and health are among the most fundamental human rights. Protecting these rights of the people should be the priority of the government in any country regardless of differences in their political and social systems.

Upholding science and caution, China's response to the outbreak is a model for epidemic preparedness and management. It prioritized human rights amid the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring people's lives and health in an approach that put people at the center.

The unprecedented outbreak has tested different national systems, capabilities and different human rights dimensions, and China has withstood the test.

Over the past months, China has reported only one COVID-19 death thanks to quick mass testing, effective traffic restrictions and the strong mobilization capacity that comes with China's political system. Moreover, the country will be the only major economy to achieve positive growth in 2020.

Calling the Chinese way of minimizing deaths from the virus and juggling economic growth a violation of human rights is one-sided through colored spectacles at best. As the world's largest developing country with a population of 1.4 billion, China insists on the principle of combining human rights' universality with the nation's actual conditions.

Not to mention that the Chinese have had the freedom to move around and lead normal lives during a large portion of 2020, but the same cannot be said of many other countries.

When it comes to the model of fighting the virus, there is no such thing as a best and one-fits-all solution. The most effective way is for each country to choose its own method according to its actual situation and advantages.

In terms of human rights protection, it is the same. There is no best way of human rights protection, only the better one.