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A forum was held in Beijing on Friday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of 1991's White Paper - Human Rights in China, which was attended by more than 70 central government officials, as well as representatives from basic level units and experts.

On November 1, 1991, China's State Council Information Office released the White Paper - Human Rights in China, which was the first white paper since the establishment of the People's Republic of China as well as the first official document themed on human rights the Chinese government released to the world. The white paper systematically introduced China's basic stances and ideas on human rights and the facts that Chinese people enjoy human rights.

Experts at the Friday forum said that, through the past 30 years, China has issued dozens of white papers concerning human rights. These white papers honestly recorded the improvement of China's human rights, deeply explained China's human rights ideas and strongly slammed the West's attacks and stigmatization of China's human rights. 

"The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the evolution of the changes unseen in 100 years in the world. Human societies have entered an inflection point in governance and a branching point in system competition. Facing the irreversible process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the West has enhanced its attacks and suppression against China using the disguise of human rights," Jiang Jianguo, vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said at the opening ceremony of the forum.

Fu Zitang, vice president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and president of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said at the forum that the 1991 white paper changed the situation that China was good at human rights but bad at telling the stories about it. 

"The 1991 white paper was not only a governmental document, but theoretical literature based on Chinese philosophy, Chinese culture and China's national condition," said Qi Yanping, professor of the Law School at Beijing Institute of Technology.