Professor Zhang Aining：Human Rights Thoughts in diplomacy — A Century’s retrospect of the Communist Party of China

On the morning of March 4, 2021, the Institute for Human Rights of China University of Political Science and Law invited Professor Zhang Aining, director of the Center for Human Rights of China Foreign Affairs University, to give a special lecture on Human Rights Thoughts in diplomacy: A Century’s retrospect of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to the students of the Institute for Human Rights. The lecture was held in the form of an online conference. The lecture was hosted by Professor Zhang Wei, co-director of the Institute for Human Rights.

Based on the diplomatic practice of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the past 100 years, Professor Zhang Aining introduced the sprout of the CPC's diplomatic human rights thought in the period of New Democratic Revolution (1921-1949) in four stages; the characteristics of the CPC's diplomatic human rights thought in the period of socialist revolution and construction (1949-1978); the historical background and main standpoints of the establishment and development of the human rights thought system of socialist diplomats with Chinese characteristics from 1978 to 2012; the human rights thought in the diplomacy of great powers with Chinese characteristics in the new era from 2012 to now.

In her conclusion, professor Zhang Aining pointed out that the 100-year diplomatic human rights thought of the CPC should be interpreted and studied under the background of the times and the historical orientation. With the change of the CPC’s diplomatic theme from “Revolution and war” to “Peace and development” over the past century, the 100-year diplomatic human rights thought of the CPC has completed the transformation from the state-centralism based on the abstract and integrated national interests to the people-centered human rights idea based on the individual rights and interests of the people.

Written by DONG Yifan