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Former top Chinese officials call for better protection of human rights and justice for all

China needs a fair system to resolve disputes as it moves on to the next stage of reform, elite Beijing gathering told

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Yang Weimin, former deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, says the public want more than economic development. Photo: Xinhua
Jun Maiin Beijing

Former top Chinese finance officials have called for better enforcement of the law and protection of human rights in China at a top forum to mark the 40th anniversary of the country’s market reforms.

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Addressing the elite Chinese Economists 50 Forum on Sunday, Yang Weimin, who stepped down earlier this year from the secretariat of the Communist Party’s top economic policy panel, said Chinese people now demanded better protection of human rights, rather than just pursuit of economic development.

“We need to build and improve the institutions that protect the people’s democratic rights, protect human rights, are based on law, and have a fair judiciary,” said Yang, a former deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs.

“What people want for a good life is more about this, rather than pure economic issues.”

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The forum is a club of serving and former financial officials, as well as top policy advisers and economists, and mainly discusses economic matters.

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