China's top legislature Monday kick-started discussions on
constitutional amendment that would enshrine protection of private
property and human rights for the first time.
"The state respects and protects human rights," says the new
expression to be added to Article 33 of Chapter two of the existing
Constitution, which has undergone three overhauls since its
promulgation in 1982.
Deputies to the on-going Second Session of the 10th National
People’s Congress (NPC) listened attentively to Wang Zhaoguo's
explanations about constitution changes on Monday.
"It's a consistent principle adopted by the Party and the state
to respect and protect human rights. To write this principle into
the Constitution will further provide a legal guarantee for its
implementation," said Wang
Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.
The current constitutional amendment was proposed by the CPC
Central Committee last October and adopted by the NPC Standing
Committee in December.
The inclusion of human rights protection in the Constitution is
also "conducive to the development of China's socialist human
rights undertakings, as well as exchanges and cooperation with the
international community in the human rights field," said Wang in
his explanation.
"The proposal to write human rights protection into the
Constitution itself is an unusual event which marks a significant
progress for China," commented Zhu Guanglei, a law professor with
the Tianjin-based Nankai University.
"Just 20 years ago, human rights was still regarded as a
so-called 'capitalist notion' in China, but now it's going to have
a place in the country's fundamental law. This development shows
what a great leap forward China has achieved in human rights
protection over the past two decades," said Zhu.
Inviolability of Private Property
Meanwhile, the draft amendment also suggests to
constitutionalize private property protection. The draft amendment
says "legal private property is not to be encroached upon" and adds
"the state should give compensation" to the current stipulation
that "the state has the right to expropriate urban and rural
land."
"It is a substantive breakthrough in the history of the People's
Republic of China and that reminds me of the past old days when we
were proud of being penniless and devoting all possessions to the
country," said Xia Bing, a lawyer who serves a Shanghai-based
private law house.
In the first 30 years after New China was founded in 1949, the
predominant agricultural country had been engaged in a continuous
campaign to turn its war-shattered economy into what the top
leaders hoped to be superior to the world powers.
The drive was frequently pestered by uncertainties such as
natural disasters and political movements such as the devastating
"Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976). The people worked hard in
cropland and factories year in year out, and their struggle did not
bring in a fairly comfortable life featured by well furnished
private houses and cars.
"Being poor meant being revolutionary and clean in heart, and it
was a shame to rake profits and dream of a luxurious life at that
time," recalls 60-year-old Zhang Yuying, a factory retiree in the
northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
"Khaki clothes, very often with a patch on the shoulder or knee
or both, might be the most precious private belongings of most
ordinary families," he says.
Tremendous improvements in the people's daily life did not take
place until the Chinese economy began to take off fueled by the
reform and open-up policy adopted in the late 1970s. In 2003,
China's per-capita GDP reached US$1,000, which is internationally
accepted as a mark of a medium-developed country. Major cities such
as Shanghai even reported a much bigger figure of more than
US$5,000.
With swelling wallets, an increasing number of Chinese citizens
have purchased or are planning to buy houses and cars, both
regarded as necessities of a modern life.
With the economic boom is a change in the people's thinking,
from the concept that "It's shame to be rich" to a brand-new motto
that "It's a pride to get rich through hard work in a lawful
way."
To usher in a nationwide endeavor to "build a well-off society
in an all-round way," the Chinese government has taken a more
scientific and realistic approach to handling ideological issues,
boosting economic development and constructing a full-fledged legal
framework.
The draft constitutional amendment submitted by NPC Standing
Committee to the NPC session Monday has drawn wide attention.
It will be the first time in the history of New China that
lawfully-obtained capital goods and invisible capital such as
intellectual property rights are put under the protection of the
Constitution, as is the same case with living materials and
properties such as estate and bank deposits.
The draft amendment, already a cynosure itself, has brought
under the spotlight the country's newly-rich private entrepreneurs,
who have accumulated wealth and dotted the nation's skyline with
robust economic growth.
By the end of November 2003, the number of China's private
enterprises hit 2.97 million with registered capital exceeding
334.7 billion yuan (US$40.5 billion). The non-public sectors now
contribute to half of China's national economic growth.
"The practice of encouraging the private sector of the economy
but avoiding reference to its existence in the law no longer sits
well with the rising private sector," said Lian Xisheng, a renowned
law scholar with China University of Politics and Law.
The draft amendment suggests "encouraging, supporting and
guiding the private economy." Sixteen years ago, the amendments to
the current constitution, formulated in 1982, stipulated that the
state permits the private economy to exist and grow within the
limits prescribed by law as a "complement" to the public economy.
In 1993, the term "socialist market economy" was added. Six years
later, the role of the private sector was upgraded to make it an
"essential part" of the socialist market economy.
The CPC Central Committee has been pushing forward China's
economic restructuring in a steady and irreversible manner, and
property right is one of the essential issues of the reform,
economists say.
"Constitutional protection of legally accumulated wealth will
spur investment and consumption, and further promote development of
the national economy," said NPC deputy Wu Zixiang, an entrepreneur
from the southern coastal province of Guangdong.
The draft amendment also incorporates into the Constitution the
important thought of “
Three Represents” which emphasizes that the CPC must represent
the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the
people, expressions of coordinated development of material
civilization and political and cultural progress, and improvement
of the land requisition system.
Also included are expressions on further clarification of the
state policy toward non-public sectors, improvement of the social
security system and the NPC's composition, stipulation on the state
of emergency and on presidency, revision of the terms of government
at township level, and stipulation on the national anthem.
The approval of the Constitutional amendments requires approval
of two-third overwhelming majority of the nearly 3,000 deputies to
the NPC, currently in the middle of a 10-day annual full session in
Beijing. A vote was scheduled for Sunday, March 14.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2004)