An amendment to the Constitution of the Communist Party of China
(CPC) was approved Thursday morning at the closing session of the
Party's 16th National Congress, with the "important thought of the
Three Representatives" being written into the constitution.
The amendment, proposed by the 15th CPC Central Committee, was
examined and unanimously adopted by the delegates to the congress
and came into force Thursday.
The CPC represents the development trend of China's advanced
productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and
the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the
Chinese people, it says.
As
this year marks the 80th birthday of the CPC constitution, the new
amendment draws close attention from both home and abroad. It is
widely believed that the new amendment serves as a political
declaration of the CPC in the new century and will exert
far-reaching influence on the Party's development in the
future.
So
far, altogether 14 amendments and improvements of different scales
and at different levels have been made since 1922.
According to the new amendment, the CPC is the vanguard both of the
Chinese working class and of the Chinese people and the Chinese
nation as well as the core of leadership for the cause of socialism
with Chinese characteristics.
The amendment also clearly defines that Marxism-Leninism, Mao
Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and "the important thought of
Three Representatives" should be taken as the Party's guide to
action and that the "Three Representatives" is a guiding ideology
that the Party must uphold for a long time to come.
The amendment also incorporates into the constitution the idea of
building a well-off society in an all-round way, which is an
objective set by the current Congress.
The amendment also includes the following:
*
To uphold and improve the basic economic system with public
ownership playing a dominant role and diverse forms of ownership
developing side by side;
*
To keep and improve the current distribution system under which
distribution according to work is dominant and a variety of modes
of distribution co-exist;
*
To uphold and improve the socialist market economy;
*
To implement the strategy of rejuvenation of the nation through
science and education and that of sustainable development;
*
To promote a co-ordinated development of the socialist material,
political and spiritual civilizations; the rule of law and build a
socialist country under the rule of law;
*
To combine the rule of law with the rule of virtue.
The amendment also says that it is conducive to reinforcing the
Party's class foundation and expanding its mass base.
It
makes clear that any Chinese worker, farmer, member of the armed
forces, intellectual or any advanced element of other social strata
who has reached the age of 18 and who accepts the Party's program
and constitution and is willing to join and work actively in one of
the Party organizations, carry out the Party's decisions and pay
membership dues regularly may apply for membership to the CPC.
(China Daily November 15, 2002)