Joe McDonald
Associated Press
Mar. 15, 2004 12:00 AM
BEIJING - Communist-led China took the historic step Sunday of amending its
constitution to protect the property rights of capitalists who are driving its
economic boom, while promising to focus on helping farmers and millions of others
left behind.
The nation's parliament, making changes dictated by the Communist Party, also
declared respect for human rights but did not promise free political expression,
a key issue for government critics.
The changes came as the figurehead National People's Congress closed a 10-day session dominated by promises to shift development to the poor countryside, where 800 million Chinese live.
"We should unite all the people of China in focusing on construction and development in order to build a better future," the country's No. 2 leader, Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo, said in a nationally televised address to the parliament's closing ceremony.
The outcome of the session reflected the ruling party's two-track strategy for China's immediate future: heavy new spending to help the rural poor, financed by more economic reform and robust growth, projected this year at 7 percent.
The amendment on private property is the first of its kind since China's 1949 communist revolution, but it only brings the constitution into line with the country's commercial reality.
China already has laws regulating private property, and the constitution was amended in 1999 to declare private business an "important component" of the economy. Millions of Chinese own businesses and apartments and trade shares on the country's two stock exchanges.
Nevertheless, entrepreneurs who are key to plans to create jobs as state industry withers lobbied for constitutional protection.
Communist leaders said the amendment, which declares that "private property obtained legally shall not be violated," was essential to reforms.
The Congress also approved writing into the constitution the political theory of retired President Jiang Zemin, who invited capitalists to join the ruling party.
Premier Wen Jiabao expressed sympathy for rural Chinese, vowing to step up
efforts to help them.
Wen, China's chief economic official, acknowledged the challenge of controlling
an economy whose growth rate last year hit 9.1 percent, prompting fears of inflation.
He noted that consumer prices rose while the country's grain production fell.
The human rights amendment is brief, saying simply that "the state respects
and preserves human rights."
It does not define human rights, but communist leaders often say they include
rights to food and housing, rejecting criticism of their attempts to suppress
political and religious activists.