Human Rights Protection is Integral to Economic Development:Experts

In light of China's sustained economic growth, experts from home and abroad have called for increased efforts to advance the country's human rights protection record.

Speaking at an international human rights forum in Beijing, scholars say it is imperative for China to properly handle both economic development and human rights protection.

Wu Jia takes a closer look.

At the forum's opening ceremony, participants say they are impressed by China's dynamic economic development—which is very likely to surpass Japan to become the second largest economy.

But they warn of the development of a conflicted relationship between the country's economy and the protection of human rights in terms of economic equality.

Luo Haocai, President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, says the country should now find ways to distribute economic wealth more fairly.

"Protection of human rights has a very complex, sometimes conflicting, correlative relationship with economic development. Economic development emphasizes growth of material wealth, while human rights protection pursues the principle of equality. With no doubt, now we should improve the capacity of human rights protection through scientific development."

China recorded its widest rural-urban income gap ever last year since the country commenced down the path of reform and opening-up in 1978. The National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the per capita annual net income of urban residents was more than three times that of rural residents.

Sirkka Korpela, a professor from Columbia University, says the Chinese government has to take steps based on its own policies to address these issues.

"Currently, the important challenge to the Chinese leadership and government is to bridge the gap between the urban and rural populations, and poor and wealthy people and between different regions of the country. I don't know that there is any country in the world that you could take as a successful example. So China will have to find its own ways and create its own polices to face the challenge. "

The ongoing annual symposium, dubbed the Beijing Forum on Human Rights, has gathered nearly 100 officials and scholars from 28 countries and regions. Sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies, the theme of this year's forum is "Human Rights and Development."

For CRI, I'm Wu Jia.