China’s human rights concept and its international promotion

In the contemporary inter-state relations, human rights are not only a subject of disputes but also a lever of influence or pressure, a set of material and non-material structures, institutions and processes that determine the course of international life. Thus, human rights have become a full-fledged factor of international relations. In recent decades, the problem of human rights in China has been one of the most controversial issues in the relations of China and the Western countries. It is the specific nature of China’s human rights concept that determines contradictions between China and the West. The authors argue that the concept of human rights in China is based on the national tradition of the primacy of the state over the interests of an individual. China’s human rights concept rethinks Confucianism and Marxism emphasizing the need to respect the collective rights of the people to the socio-economic development as well as to ensure stability and security of the state and preserve its sovereignty. At the same time, as the authors point out, in recent years China, which traditionally takes a defensive position on the human rights issue in its international agenda, has promoted its own concept of human rights at the international level. In this regard, in the authors opinion, it is necessary to analyse the factors, which have affected the formation of China’s human rights concept, as well as the position of China’s authorities on this issue, and the purposes and tools of China's so-called ‘human rights diplomacy’. At the conclusion the authors summarize the basic features of China’s human rights concept, which form the theoretical basis of ‘human rights diplomacy’ of the PRC.

China, Western countries, human rights, political discourse, Confucianism, Marxism, diplomacy