The Information Office of the State Council issued Monday a white paper on
                              human rights,  elaborating the achievements China scored in
                              its human rights  cause during the past year.
                              The white paper, entitled "Progress in China's Human Rights
                               Cause in 2000", says that the year 2000 marked a milestone in
                               China's march to modernization, as the country  witnessed both
                               sound economic performance and continued  advance in its human
                               rights cause.
                               In 2000, implementation of the Ninth-Five -Year Plan for  National Economic
                              and Social Development was successfully  completed, the development of the western
                              region got off to a good start, the economy developed in a healthy way,
                              democracy and the legal system were continuously strengthened,
                              and the human rights situation maintained a good momentum of
                              development.
                               The white paper says that the Chinese government continued to
                               improve people's access to subsistence and development by
                               developing the economy and enhancing the  comprehensive national
                               strength.
                               China rid itself completely of the influence of the Asian
                               financial crisis in 2000 as its national economy growth rate
                               apparently increased. The gross domestic product (GDP) of China
                               surpassed 1000 billion U.S. dollars for the first time, reaching 8,
                               940.4 billion yuan. The GDP per capita exceeded  800 U.S. dollars,
                               a symbol of realizing the second-step strategic goal set for China's
                               modernization drive.
                               The white paper notes that the income of urban and rural
                               residents has gone up steadily, and their standards of living have
                               continued to improve. People across the country  as a whole are
                               living a relatively well-off life.
                               The Engel's coefficient, indicating the proportion of food
                               expenditure in the total consumption  expenditures, was about 40
                               percent for urban residents and about 50 percent for rural
                               residents last year, down nearly 10 percentage points and 8
                               percentage points respectively over those of  1995. The decrease
                               shows that the life quality of people is  further upgraded.
                               While improving the people's living standards across the board,
                               the Chinese government has attached great importance to ensuring
                               that people from poverty-stricken areas have enough to eat and
                               wear, says the white paper.
                               A systematic and large-scale poverty elimination drive
                               initiated by the Chinese government has been going on since China
                               started reform and opening up to the outside world in the late 1970s.
                               The rate of those in poverty among rural people has dropped to
                               around 3 percent from 30.7 percent in 1978, forming a sharp
                               contrast with the increase of absolutely poverty-stricken  population in the rest of the
                              world.
                               The United Nations Development Program holds
                              that China's aid-the-poor efforts in a development-oriented way
                              have provided a model for other developing countries, and even
                              for the whole world.
                               On the guarantee of citizens' political rights, the white paper
                               notes that the system of people's congress is a fundamental
                               political system in China, in which all power in China belongs to
                               the people and the people exercise State power through the
                               National People's Congress (NPC) and the local people's congresses.
                                 At the Fourth Session of the Ninth NPC held in March, 2001, the
                               deputies put forward 1,040 proposals, a record high since 1983
                               when the first session of the Sixth NPC was convened.
                                 The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
                               the top advisory body of the Chinese government, actively
                               participated in the deliberation and administration of State
                               affairs in 2000. The CPPCC National Committee submitted more than
                               10 reports to the decision-makers on mapping out the Tenth Five-
                               Year Plan (2001-2005). It also raised many  opinions and
                               suggestions, which served as important reference, on issues such
                               as speeding up the project of diverting water from the south to
                               the north, perfecting the social security  system, and further
                               reform of the judicial system.  
                                 The white paper says that building democratic politics at the
                               grassroots level in rural China has been promoted in an all-round
                               way and developed steadily.
                                 The villagers' committees in 27 provinces, autonomous regions,
                               and municipalities have been re-elected since the revised Organic
                               Law of the Villagers' Committees  was enforced in 1998. About 600
                               million farmers took part in the direct election of their village
                               heads, accounting for a vote rate of more than 80 percent.
                                 Meanwhile remarkable progress has been made in the building of
                               democratic politics at the township level. The practice of making
                               public the township political affairs has been promoted nationwide.
                               About 35,000 townships, or over 80 percent of the total townships
                               in China, have made public their political affairs.
                                 On judicial guarantee for human rights, the white paper notes
                               that China pays much attention to safeguarding human rights
                               through perfecting legislation, ensuring an impartial judicature
                               and strictly enforcing the law.
                                 It says in 2000, the public security and  judicial organs  
                               cracked down on gang-related crimes and crimes  involving guns and
                               explosives. They also punished, according to  law, a handful of
                               criminals who caused deaths or gathered people to upset the public
                               order by organizing and using the "Falun Gong" cult, effectively
                               safeguarding social stability and people's lives and property.
                                 The Supreme People's Court formulated in July  2000 the
                               Regulations on Providing Judicial Assistance for Litigants
                               Actually in Financial Difficulty, in an effort to guarantee that
                               poor people can exercise their legal litigation rights.
                                 Litigants of more than 190,000 cases across country therefore
                               were allowed to have their payment of itigation costs postponed,
                               reduced or remitted.
                                 The Chinese government made more efforts in 2000 to further
                               protect the economic, social and cultural rights of citizens.
                                 According to statistics, employees in China totaled more than
                               710 million by the end of 2000, an increase of  5.64 million over
                               the previous year. China has basically established a social
                               security system, mainly covering basic pension insurance, basic
                               medical insurance and unemployment insurance  for workers in cities
                               and towns.
                                 China has virtually made nine-year compulsory
                              education universal across the country, and eliminated
                              illiteracy among people who were born since 1949.
                                 The number of Internet users in China has skyrocketed to more
                               than 22.5 million from 10,000 in 1994, when China joined the
                               Internet network.
                                 The white paper says that the number of women
                              employed has grown continuously, women's education level has
                              risen further and  women's health improved, too.
                                 In order to curb domestic violence, bigamy  and taking
                               concubines, perfect family property system and
                              protect women's   rights in marriage and the family, the NPC
                              encouraged people of all walks of life to do research for a revision
                              of the Marriage Law, and publicized the draft amendments in
                              January, 2001 for public discussions.    
                                 Chinese children's rights are effectively protected as well.
                               The child mortality rate dropped by one third  and the rate of
                               malnutrition among children fell by 50 percent over the 1990
                               figures.
                                 A program for the safe and healthy  development of Chinese
                               children was launched in October, 2000, aimed  at forging a healthy
                               social climate for children, helping them stay away from dropout,
                               disease, injury and crime.
                                 The white paper notes that in China, ethnic minorities enjoy
                               not only all citizens' rights entitled by the Constitution and
                               laws as the Han people do, but also some special rights stipulated
                               by laws for ethnic minorities.
                                 The Standing Committee of the Ninth NPC made amendments to the
                               Law Governing Regional Ethnic Autonomy in  February, 2001,
                               upgrading the system of regional ethnic autonomy as part of the
                               basic political system of China. The white paper says that the
                               decision further strengthened the legal  guarantee of autonomy in
                               the autonomous areas.
                                 While implementing the system of regional ethnic autonomy, the
                               central government assists the economic and social development of
                               these areas by providing funds, technology, and professionals. The
                               white paper notes that the GDP of the autonomous regions increased
                               by 8.1 percent in 2000, surpassing that of the national average
                               for the fourth consecutive year.
                                 Besides, the State made effective efforts in supporting ethnic
                               minority areas in developing education, ensuring the ethnic
                               minorities can use and develop their own languages, respecting and
                               protecting their religious beliefs, traditional customs and
                               cultures.
                                 The campaign of developing the west where
                              ethnic minorities are concentrated will forcefully promote economic
                              and social  development in these areas and the full
                              realization of the equal rights of ethnic minorities.  
                                 The white paper says that the Chinese  government always
                               respects the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
                               Nations for promoting and protecting human rights, supports the UN
                               efforts in this regard and actively participates in the UN  activities in the realm
                              of human rights.
                                 The Ninth NPC Standing Committee ratified the International
                               Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in February, 2001.
                               The white paper says this fully demonstrates the Chinese
                               government's positive attitude toward carrying out international
                               cooperation in human rights as well as China's  firm determination
                               and confidence in promoting and protecting human rights.
                                 The white paper notes in the end that the  progress of human
                               rights is an important aspect of the social development of all
                               countries. It is a historical process of  continuous advance.
                                 In the light of China's national conditions and according to
                               people's wishes, and with the aim of building a democratic,
                               modernized country with advanced culture and under the rule of law,
                               the Chinese government will accelerate development and
                               continuously push forward the development of  human rights cause in
                               China while maintaining social stability.
                                 The 14,000-word white paper consists of seven parts, namely,
                               the improvement of the people's rights to subsistence and
                               development; the guarantee of citizens' political rights; judicial
                               guarantee for human rights; the economic, social and cultural
                               rights of citizens; protection of women and children's rights;
                               equal rights and special protection for ethnic minorities; and
                               actively carrying out international exchanges and cooperation in
                               the realm of human rights.