Mr. Chairman

The Chinese Government attaches great importance to its cooperation with the UN human rights mechanism.  In that spirit, China sincerely invited the Rapporteur on the right to education to visit the country. During her visit, China did what it could to accommodate every request from the rapporteur. More over, we adopted a positive, frank, open and objective attitude in briefing her on China's achievements as well as shortcomings in guaranteeing the right to education. We also provided a large amount of first-hand information upon her request.

Regrettably however, the Rapporteur did not present a true picture of  what she had seen and heard during her visit. On the contrary, she made groundless comments and accusations on the efforts made by the Chinese Government in ensuring and realizing the right to education.  One has to but believe that she might have drafted her report even before setting foot on Chinese soil.  My delegation would like to make three points in particular on her report.

1. Much of the report which is supposed to be on the state of China's education, is on totally irrelevant issues, such as foreign affairs and the military. Small wonder that she complained at the start of the report that the limit of 10,700 words made it impossible to give a comprehensive account of China's education.

2. Since China is a large country, we suggested before her trip that she visit more places in addition to Beijing to see more in the field, but she insisted on visiting Beijing only.  Surprisingly, the Rapporteur used some groundless reports in making lopsided and irresponsible assessment on education in Tibet, Hebei and other places she never visited. We cannot but be puzzled at her intention for this.

3. At the end of her visit, the rapporteur claimed to foreign media that the state of education in countries even like Uganda was better than that of China. I have no idea why and how Uganda was determined as the floor criteria. China and Uganda are developing countries and we enjoy friendly bilateral relations. We are dissatisfied with such degrading criticisms of developing countries by a rapporteur.

We do not expect answers from the Rapporteur to the afro-mentioned doubts.  But we sincerely hope that Rapporteurs will carry out their mandates given by the CHR in a serious and responsible manner and take an objective and fair approach in presenting to the Commission what they see and hear during their mission.  This will not only be in the interest of their own reputation but also contribute to safeguarding the credibility of the UN human rights mechanism as well as its cooperation with the member states.

Mr. Chairman,

Education is essential for long-term development. China has fine tradition of setting store by education. The Chinese Government has made unremitting efforts in realizing the right to education by its citizens and achieved encouraging and remarkable results. For example, the net enrolment rate for primary schools has reached almost 99% and gross enrolment rate for middle schools stands at more than 90%. According to the Progress Report on China's Implementation of Millennium Development Goals issued by the UN on Feb.2 this year, China has made tremendous progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and by the year 2015, most of those goals will become a reality in China.

As a developing country, we are still confronted with many difficulties and challenges. While relying on our own efforts in solving these problems, we also welcome assistance from the international community and constructive suggestions and criticisms. We look forward to continuous positive result in our cooperation with the UN human rights mechanism on the basis of mutual respect and trust.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.