Readers' meeting on book of Xi's discourses on human rights held in Madrid

MADRID -- A readers' meeting was held Thursday on the book "Xi Jinping on Respecting and Protecting Human Rights" in Madrid, bringing together Chinese and Spanish participants for discussions on China's important role in advancing global human rights governance.

Yao Jing, Chinese ambassador to Spain, said at the meeting that President Xi Jinping's important exposition on respecting and protecting human rights reflects the firm determination of the Communist Party of China to protect and promote human rights, and demonstrates China's unremitting efforts to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

China is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation on human rights with all parties on the basis of equality and mutual respect, learn from each other, make progress together, and contribute to the international human rights cause, he added.

Jose Luis Centella, president of the Communist Party of Spain, elaborated on how Xi's important discourses on respecting and safeguarding human rights has been integrated into the political practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, from the perspectives of the right to development, poverty alleviation and the building of a country under the rule of law.

Marta Montoro, vice-president of Spain's Catedra China Foundation, said that the book dispels common misconceptions about China's approach on human rights, offering valuable insight into the country's perspective.

Through this book, readers can analyze and explore China's ideas and practices in the field of human rights in a calm and rigorous manner, she said.

Director of the Spanish New Silk Road Research Center Carlos Fernandez Bielsa said that individual happiness, social welfare and national prosperity are all intertwined with a country's strategic development.

The publication of "Xi Jinping on Respecting and Protecting Human Rights" offers global readers an opportunity for an in-depth study of Xi's important expositions, he said.

Eddy Sanchez Iglesias, director of the Foundation of Marxist Research, said that China's development path in the past few decades and its increasingly prominent influence in the global landscape in the 21st century deserve in-depth study and serious thinking by the international community.

He believed that the publication of "Xi Jinping on Respecting and Protecting Human Rights" builds a new platform for exchanges and cooperation between China and Europe in the field of human rights.

Spanish translator Miguel Bravo Gomez said that China has found a path that suits itself and its people, adding that one should try to understand Chinese people and the values they cherish based on factors such as China's history, its current national conditions and cultural tradition.

Compiled by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the book uses nine themes to systematically record the remarks of Xi on respecting and protecting human rights.

In 2022, the Central Compilation and Translation Press published the English-Chinese, French-Chinese, Russian-Chinese, Spanish-Chinese and Japanese-Chinese versions of the book.