The Change Mariner

China Moves to Protect Property

The New York Times

HENZHEN, China, Dec. 22; China's national legislature moved to amend the Constitution on Monday to protect private property rights, the first time the Communist Party has formally protected private wealth since taking power 55 years ago.

The change, expected to be enacted early next year, is a milestone in China's 25-year economic reform effort. It marks a victory for advocates of China's emerging class of entrepreneurs, who have argued for years that the Marxist Constitution discriminates against them and gives leeway to the police and the courts to seize their property according to party dictates.

The amendment, subjected to a prolonged debate behind closed doors during the past six months, says that "private property obtained legally shall not be violated," at least nominally putting it on the same footing as public property, which the Constitution now deems "sacred and inviolable."

But the wording of the amendment made public on Monday differs in crucial ways from a simpler version put forward by supporters of more fundamental changes to the Constitution. By including the phrase "obtained legally," the amendment still makes the legal system, controlled by the Communist Party, the arbiter of property rights.