BEIJING -- Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has established systems that respect China's actual conditions and ensure the people's principal status as masters of the country, a white paper said Thursday.

The main ones are people's congresses, which form the fundamental political system of China, CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation, regional ethnic autonomy, and grassroots self-governance, said the white paper on the practice of the CPC in respecting and protecting human rights, which was released by the State Council Information Office.

These systems have laid a firm institutional foundation for protecting the fundamental interests of the people, the white paper said.

Through the system of people's congresses, the peoples of all ethnic groups hold the destiny of China and the nation firmly in their own hands, according to the white paper.

The CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation system has realized unity between governance and participation in governance, leadership and cooperation, and consultation and oversight. It embodies the essential requirement of socialist democracy.

Human rights in China are also well ensured and protected through the system of regional ethnic autonomy and institutions of grassroots democracy, the document said.