On October 27, 1997, China signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and at the same time it lodged a note with the United Nations stating that the signature that had been made in 1967 in the name of Taiwan was illegal and had no validity. The note set out the position that only the government of the People's Republic of China could represent China in relation to the covenant. The instrument was one of the two main human rights covenants adopted by the United Nations in 1966. The step was new.
The covenant covers the rights that a state is to secure for its people in the economic and social field, including the right to work and to fair conditions of work, the right to social security, the right to an adequate standard of living with food, clothing and housing, the right to health, and the right to education, and it also covers cultural rights and the protection of the family. The rules are broad. It is monitored by a committee of experts that receives reports from states that have ratified it.
The signature was one of a series of steps that China took in the 1990s in the field of international law and human rights, and it followed the signing of other conventions on the rights of women and children and against torture, and the country took part in the world conference on human rights held in Vienna in 1993. The signing was welcomed by the United Nations and was reported as a step that would be followed by ratification. The Chinese government said the rights in the covenant were to be realised in a way suited to the level of development of the country.
China ratified the covenant in 2001, and it has since submitted reports to the committee and has taken part in the review process, and it has also carried out revisions of its own laws in fields such as labour and education. The other main covenant, on civil and political rights, was signed by China in 1998, and it has not yet been ratified. The treaty stands. The two instruments together are described as the international bill of human rights, along with the universal declaration of 1948.