"Capitalism" in China's constitution
Henry C.K. Liu
hliu at mindspring.com
Sun Jan 31 16:59:16 PST 1999
31/01/1999, updated at 9:00am
China to Put Deng Xiaoping Theory into
Constitution
China is to add Deng Xiaoping Theory into its
Constitutional Law in a bid to enhance the legal
position of the Theory when the deputies discuss
amendments of the Constitution during the upcoming
Second Plenary Session of the Ninth NPC to
convened on March 5.
According to a proposal submitted by the CPC
Central Committee to the just ended 7th meeting of
the Standing Committee of the Ninth NPC, a total of
six major revisions will be made to the Constitution.
One of the most important amendments is to put
"Deng Xiaoping Theory" and "develop a socialist
market economy" into the Preface of the
Constitution, according to the proposal.
In addition, the phrase "is currently" in the sentence
of "China is currently in the primary stage of
socialism" in the Preface will be revised into "will be
over a long period of time".
The proposal was discussed at the 7th meeting of the
Ninth NPC Standing Committee and became a bill of
the NPC Standing committee, and the bill will be
submitted to the upcoming Second Session of the
Ninth National People's Congress.
This marks the third time China revises its
Constitution since it was adopted in 1982. China
made amendments to part of the Constitution in 1988
and in 1993.
Other important amendments will be made under the
guidelines of "ruling the country by law" and
"developing a socialist market economy".
According to the proposal, the following will be added
to the original articles:
In Article 5, "the People's Republic of China should
implement the principle of ruling the country by law,
governing the country according to law and making it
a socialist country ruled by law" will be added.
Contents to be added in Article 6 is, "in the primary
stage of socialism, the country should uphold the
basic economic system in which the public ownership
is dominant and diverse forms of ownership develop
side by side, and it should also uphold the distribution
system with distribution according to work remaining
dominant and a variety of modes of distribution
coexisting."
At the meantime, "rural collective economic
organizations should carry out the two-tier operation
system that combines unified management with
independent management on the basis of the
household responsibility contract system with
remuneration linked to output" will be added to
Article 8.
Amendments in Article 11 will be: "Non-public sector
comprising self-employed and private businesses
within the domain stipulated by law is an important
component of the country's socialist market
economy", and "The country should protect the
legitimate rights and interests of self-employed and
private enterprises, and the country should also
exercise the guidance, supervision and management
over them according to law."
According to the proposal, the wording of
"counter-revolutionary activities" in Article 28 will be
changed into "crimes endangering the state security".
Analysts here believed that the amendments to be
made to the Constitution is the quintessence of Deng
Xiaoping Theory and the most successful experience
China has gained in its reforms and opening-up drive
over the past two decades.
Tian Jiyun, member of the CPC Central Committee's
Political Bureau and member of the CPC Central
committee's group on revision of the Constitution told
the NPC Standing committee meeting that the
principle in revising the Constitution is that "we will
only make amendments that are deemed necessary
and relevant conditions are ripe."
The revision group is led by Li Peng, member of the
Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the
CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the NPC
Standing Committee.
Li commented on the draft amendments saying the
additions which were already affirmed in the report of
the 15th National Congress of the CPC in late 1997
have proved to be "completely correct" in practice,
and should be part of the nation's Constitution.
He said that "timely and meticulous amendments to
the Constitution will make it better meet the needs of
reality and help maintain the authority of the
Constitution."
Such revisions, after adoption, shall have
"far-reaching influences upon the development of the
socialist market economy and the construction of a
socialist democratic political system, and will generally
advance the cause of socialism with Chinese
characteristics," the top legislator said.
The lawmakers approved the decision to submit the
draft to the NPC plenary session with 124 approvals,
no objection and one abstention.
The majority of legislators agreed that the proposed
amendments to the Constitution are necessry and in
line with the desires of all the Chinese people.
Copyright by People's Daily Online
Email:English at peopledaily.com.cn
Chris Burford wrote:
> The following story has been posted by CNN based on Reuters and APP,
> heavily editing and contextualising a Xinhua report. The Xinhua website is
> not very accessible when I tried it this morning.
>
> Can anyone get the original because this is a situation where western
> reports are likely to be heavily slanted. Most obviously, "Private
> enterprise", which presumably here includes the large town and village
> cooperative sector, is translated as capitalism.
>
> We also need context from a Marxist point of view of any attempt to explain
> this development. What did the CPC actually say?
>
> Chris Burford
>
> London
>
> PS I would appreciate information on the best internet sources on China.
>
> _______________________________________________________________
>
> China enlarging role of capitalism in its constitution
>
> BEIJING (CNN) -- The Chinese Communist Party on Saturday
> proposed landmark constitutional amendments that would give private
> enterprise a key role, the official Xinhua news agency said.
>
> The party's 193-member decision-making Central Committee also elevated
> the rule of law, and the capitalist theories of late supreme leader Deng
> Xiaoping would have the same status as those of Marx, Lenin and Mao
> Tse-tung, Xinhua said.
>
> The draft amendments were expected to be approved by a full session of the
> National People's Congress, or parliament, scheduled to begin March 5, the
> news agency said.
>
> Political analysts said the amendments illustrate the growing belief that
> China
> needs to boost its private sector to spur growth.
>
> The private sector would be an "important component" of the socialist
> economy under state ownership, Xinhua quoted the amendments as saying.
>
> The current constitution describes private enterprise as "complementing" the
> socialist economy under state ownership.
>
> The amendments still refer to the public sector as the mainstay of the
> economy, analysts said.
>
> Economists have argued that despite 20 years of reform, China's economy is
> too reliant on the state sector, which was built up under the years of Mao
> Tse-tung, who died in 1976.
>
> Deng's reforms in 1979 led China to the revolutionary decision to dump
> Soviet-style central planning. Deng's capitalist-style reforms would become
> the creed of the world's largest communist nation.
>
> Deng, who died in 1997, coined the phrase "socialism with Chinese
> characteristics" to justify his un-Marxist concepts such as stock markets and
> private enterprise.
>
> China has about 960,700 private businesses, which employ 13.5 million
> non-state sector accounts for about 75 percent of gross domestic product.
>
> However, the state sector sucks up two-thirds of all bank lending.
>
> In April China's chamber of commerce, the All-China Federation of Industry
> and Commerce, submitted a motion to parliament pushing for legal
> protection of private property in communist China.
>
> China's private sector has flourished under Deng's reforms, but communist
> authorities have not granted it full legal protection and still ban private
> ownership of land.
>
> The amendments also call for rule of law, Xinhua said.
>
> China under Mao was ruled by a handful of leaders of the Communist Party;
> even the constitution was subordinate to the policies of the party. Beijing
> has
> been pushing the rule of law.
>
> But that does not mean it will allow any organized opposition. Authorities
> have detained at least five democracy campaigners in recent days in
> intensified efforts to crush dissent, a rights group reported Saturday. The
> detained are mainly members of the opposition China Democracy Party.
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