China ended its annual session of parliament yesterday, with the rubber-stamp congress keeping intact its record of never opposing a government proposal or document for 50 straight years.
The 10-day meeting concluded with 99 percent of the delegates' votes in favor of 13 amendments to China's constitution, some of them landmark changes in the country's socialist system.
There was also virtually unanimous backing for this year's budget and economic plan, which intend to slow down galloping deficit spending, while aiming for 7 percent economic growth.
Also endorsed, but with a more lukewarm approval rating, was the work over the past year of the country's courts and prosecutors, which lack independence and are plagued by corruption.
Premier Wen Jiabao (
Approval for his work report, however, was only given after legislators inserted an extra sentence, vowing to slash red tape and adopt a more hands-on approach in the year ahead.
"The government must improve its style of work, cut the number of meetings and documents, and spend more time and energy in field investigations and research at the grass-root level," the sentence read.
A year after a new government was sworn in, the congress approved a series of long-awaited amendments to the state constitution, including provisions that refer to human rights and protecting private property.
Thirteen changes were made to the 1982 document in total, including codifying existing powers of the state president and replacing the phrase "martial law" with the less belligerent-sounding "state of emergency."
In a clear sign that retired president Jiang Zemin (
As head of the Central Military Commission, the 77-year-old is inferior in rank and should not be voting ahead of a sitting president.
The key amendment on private property is seen as a reflection of the state's determination to protect the profits gained by China's growing private sector during 25 years of market economic reforms.
The wording "Citizen's lawful private property is inviolable," marks the first private property protections in the Marxist document and further cements the Communist Party's intention to consolidate capitalist economics within a Leninist political framework.
The amendment should also curb the rampant requisitioning of property and private possessions by the state, which has sparked anger among ordinary Chinese.
Another amendment says, "the state respects and protects human rights" and is widely seen as an admission that existing constitutional protections on human rights are far from adequate.
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