China Mulling Amendments to Constitution

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 12, 2003

China Mulling Amendments to Constitution

The Third Plenum of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), to be held in October, will discuss proposed amendments to China's Constitution.

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The Third Plenum of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), to be held in October, will discuss proposed amendments to China's Constitution.

The decision was made at Monday's meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing, presided over by General Secretary Hu Jintao.

A stable Chinese Constitution serves as the foundation for stability of the country and the existing Constitution generally accommodates the needs of reform, opening up and modernization, the meeting concluded.

"However, it is still necessary to make certain amendments to promote economic and social development."

Deng Xiaoping theory and the important thought of Three Represents should serve as guidelines for both the reform of the economic system and the revision of the Constitution, it said.

The important thought of Three Represents, which calls for the CPC to always represent 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, was set forth in 2000 by Jiang Zemin, then general-secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and was written into the Party's charter in 2002.

Monday's meeting also stressed that the spirit of the 16th CPC National Congress of emancipating the mind, seeking truth and keeping pace with the times should be fully carried out while fulfilling both tasks.

The meeting emphasized, "the importance of pursuing correct political direction and soliciting opinions from all circles in revising the Constitution."

The proposed amendments to the Chinese Constitution, after being deliberated at the Third Plenum of the 16th CPC Central Committee, will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) for deliberation in accordance with legal procedures.

The existing Constitution, consisting of 138 articles in four chapters, was formulated in 1982 and was later amended three times, respectively in 1988, 1993 and 1999.

The First Session of the Seventh NPC in 1988 approved amendments to Article 11 of the Constitution, which says the state permits private economy to exist and grow within the limits prescribed by law and the private economy is a complement to the socialist public economy.

The First Session of the Eighth NPC made nine amendments to the Constitution, adding to the Constitution the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhering to reform, opening up and multi-party cooperation under the leadership of the CPC and the political consultation system.

The Second Session of the Ninth NPC in 1999 made six amendments to the Constitution, enshrining the guiding role of Deng Xiaoping Theory. In the amendments, rule of law is stipulated as a national policy and the role the private economic sector is further highlighted as important in the national economic system.

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