China had completed four consecutive national human rights action plans as of last year. It released its fifth, the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2026-30), at the 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance in Beijing on Thursday.

The action plan aims to ensure that the principal position of the people is respected and the people's fundamental interests are safeguarded. It will also promote social fairness and justice and ensure that the fruits of modernization benefit all people fairly.

Human rights are meaningful only when translated into concrete outcomes. The right to education is reflected in school enrolment. The right to health is measured through access to healthcare and life expectancy. The right to development is demonstrated by poverty reduction, rising incomes and expanding opportunities.

This philosophy is embedded in the newly released action plan and, more broadly, in the country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30). Human rights are not treated as a separate policy silo. They are woven into economic development, social welfare, environmental protection, technological governance and public administration. The result is a comprehensive framework in which human-rights objectives become part of the system of State planning and implementation.

The action plan assigns responsibilities, establishes benchmarks, fixes deadlines and holds institutions accountable for implementation. It includes goals relating to healthcare, education, social security, environmental quality and protections for vulnerable groups. It also expands into newer territory, including artificial intelligence governance, data protection and digital inclusion. In other words, Beijing is attempting to update its human-rights framework to match the realities of a society being transformed by technology and demographic change, using high-tech to facilitate the improvement of human rights conditions.

The practical achievements that have accompanied the country's development over recent decades are a contribution to the global human rights cause. The elimination of absolute rural poverty, the construction of the world's largest social security and healthcare systems, and the dramatic expansion of educational opportunities have altered the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Indeed, many first-time foreign visitors to China come away struck not by the things that dominate some Western media coverage but by something far more mundane: public safety, efficient infrastructure, digital convenience and the accessibility of public services. These outcomes did not emerge by accident. They are the cumulative product of scientific planning and long-term down-to-earth hard work following the people-first principle. The human-rights action plans are one component of that broader ecosystem.

The 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance took place at a moment when the global human-rights agenda is increasingly entangled with geopolitical rivalry. Human rights have been weaponized by some Western countries, their allegations targeting some countries while the violations of allies are ignored or downplayed.

The world has witnessed more than its share of humanitarian crises instigated by these self-proclaimed human rights "champions".

China rejects this approach, prioritizing cooperation over confrontation. From Beijing's perspective, development remains the most urgent human rights issue for large parts of the world and human rights should be a field for mutual learning, practical cooperation and shared progress.

There is no single universal model for advancing human rights. In an era of widening inequality, technological disruption and geopolitical fragmentation, it is not who talks most passionately about human rights but who can produce measurable progress that is the real driver of the human rights cause.

China's new action plan demonstrates that for Beijing progress is achieved through concrete actions and tangible results. It serves as a broader response to the world, underscoring the need for an improved global human rights governance system that is fairer, more equitable and more inclusive.