===================================================================== China Endorses Private Property =====================================================================
China's parliament has agreed to landmark changes to the constitution that will protect private property for the first time since the 1949 revolution, reports BBC Online (03/15).
Sunday's endorsement came on the final day of the National People's Congress annual meeting in Beijing. The BBC's Beijing correspondent says with this vote, China is abandoning one of the key pillars of communism. The vote to amend the 1982 constitution was passed with 2,863 in favor to 10 against, with 17 abstentions. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that the "changes to the constitution are of great significance to the development of China." But he also warned that China's economy is at a critical juncture, and that the country's system of governance has to keep in step with the transformation to a capitalistic economy. "Without success in political restructuring, economic reforms in China cannot eventually succeed," he said at a press conference at the close of the annual session. China's parliament also voted to enshrine human rights in the constitution, for the first time. The mention of human rights reads: "The state respects and preserves human rights." Although it is the constitution's first reference to the issue, analysts say such a brief mention is ambiguous and makes no mention of political freedom.
The Globe and Mail (Canada, 03/15) explains that despite its symbolism the amendment might not provide much concrete help for China's private sector. Chinese constitutional provisions are often ignored or never translated into useful measures for ordinary people.
The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times (03/15) explain that the private property amendment was a recognition of private businesses' growing economic and political might rather than an effective legal guarantee.
However, The Washington Post (03/15) writes that Ying Songnian, director of the law department at the National School of Administration, said the amendment could also offer increased protection to farmers and other small landowners whose property is confiscated by local governments eager to please big developers. Such confiscations, sometimes by corrupt officials, have produced a wave of complaints in recent months, prompting Wen to pledge that his government would seek to put a stop to them.
The Associated Press (03/15) meanwhile explains that 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. Still, entrepreneurs who are key to plans to create new 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 future reforms. The NPC also approved an amendment writing into the constitution the political theory of retired President Jiang Zemin, who invited capitalists to join the ruling party.
In another piece, The International Herald Tribune (03/15) reports that for all the hoopla about China's booming economy, its manufacturing muscle and its potential to become a great power, the world's most populous country is struggling to keep the lights on. And the sporadic blackouts that plagued much of China last year are raising complicated questions for the Communist Party and for the rest of the world: How and where will China get the energy it needs to maintain its economic growth?, and how much will the environment suffer for it?