China's Foreign Ministry revealed that China's human rights status continues to improve during Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, despite reports saying that hundreds of petitioners were detained on the same day.
According to Hong Lei, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, the country has continued its quest in promoting and protecting human rights as it gives priority to the development of over 1.3 billion Chinese.
In a report from Xinhua News Agency, China has been described to have made "great efforts" to enhance its people's living standards in order to achieve economic and social development.
This is in line with the comprehensive reform being promoted by President Xi Jinping's administration, outlined during the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's third and fourth plenary sessions held last year and in October, respectively.
The CPC Central Committee and the Chinese president are also working hand in hand to promote the rule of law, a clear evidence of the Chinese government's will to protect and promote the human rights of its people.
However, hundreds of activists who gathered outside United Nations offices and other government buildings in Beijing have been arrested during Human Rights Day.
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the demonstrators who converged in the area handing out leaflets and calling for the protection of human rights were then taken to an "extrajudicial detention center" outside Beijing known as Jiujingzhuang.
"They grabbed us by the arm and shoved us onto the bus and took us to Jiujingzhuang," Yu Nanzhe, a petitioner from eastern China's Jiangsu Province told RFA, adding that he had counted nearly 30 buses transporting some 40 to 50 people to the detention facility.
The RFA, citing a Sichuan-based civil rights website, noted that all in all, more than 500 people were taken into police custody during Human Rights Day.