POLITICS-CHINA: Constitutional Changes a Two-Sided Weapon

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Pushpa Adhikari

BEIJING, Feb 5 1999 (IPS) - Depending on one’s vantage point, the impending changes in China’s Constitution are either a step toward healthier market reforms or toward more room to clamp down on political dissent.

They could well be both, judging from the mixed feelings that the changes are evoking among the Chinese.

The key amendments, expected to be approved formally when the National People’s Congress (NPC) or Parliament starts meeting Mar 5, were agreed upon by NPC leaders at a secret meeting last weekend. The Central Committee of the Communist Party endorsed the same changes in January.

The amendments mark the eighth time that the People’s Republic of China is making changes in the Constitution in the 50 years of the nation’s establishment. The changes are the first since 1993.

The amendments in the wording of several constitutional provisions seek to strengthen recognition of the role of private enterprise in the economy, adherence to the rule of law and implementation of the ideology of the late Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping.

For Communist Party members, the latest set of amendments will strengthen the party and the nation as a whole. Indeed, these changes have gotten good media reviews overseas.

But for those who have been opposing the government, the changes show a very tough road ahead.

China’s lawmakers claim to have incorporated Deng’s ideas in the proposed amendments.

Said President Jiang Zemin: “The Constitution needs to make progress in line with changes taking place in the country, and it is essential to revise certain sections that do not conform to the practicalities currently existing, in accordance with the requirements of China’s political, economic and social life, and taking into account the experience gained from the reform, opening- up and modernisation construction.”

But critics say the reforms the government has been advocating do not follow the policies of Deng, who in 1978 set China down the road of market reforms.

Retired government official Wen Hua, not his real name, says Deng formulated three conditions for the implementation of market reforms. They must stimulate the growth of production, strengthen China’s power and improve people’s lives.

But the reality, he said, is different. In China these days, unemployment is rising and the state is cutting back on the provision of free housing and medical care. Income gaps between the rich and poor, even on a regional scale, are widening.

The draft amendments bolster the status of private economic entities as “important components of the socialist market economy” — giving a political signal that the private sector should be given a bigger role in the economy.

The existing Constitution describes these enterprises as only “supplements of the public ownership economy” that are allowed to “exist and develop” within the limits of law.

This amendment, together with a new provision stressing that officials must “use laws to the rule the country”, is being seen as a positive step in China’s transition to a market economy.

Analysts say it is no doubt related to China’s slowing economy and leaders’ recognition that more private sector activity — its output reaches only 15 percent of the economy as a whole — would help stimulate the economy.

Others zero in however on a proposed change in the wording of Article 28 of the charter, which would have the term “counter- revolutionary activities” amended to “crimes endangering the state security”.

Majority of legislators agreed that the amendments to the Constitution are necessary and in line with the “desires of all the Chinese people”.

But people like Sun Yi, a pro-democracy student activist, are not happy with this proposed amendment.

They fear Beijing can and will have a constitutional excuse to wipe out dissidents by invoking “crimes endangering the state security”, whereas the term “counter revolutionary” referred to those who were against the revolution prior to the founding of the People’s Republic.

Yet others say this is needed to ensure the sound development of Chinese nation, according to the theories of Deng, and maintenance of social cohesion and order during transition.

Xiao Li, a 50-year-old Communist Party member, cites a remark Deng once made, referring to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. “If bourgeois liberalisation is introduced in China, disorders are inevitable and, as a result, we shall be unable to achieve anything”, Deng had said.

In other words, Xiao Li says, the foundation of reforms and changes mapped out by Deng is the “cement” which holds together the “quicksand” of Chinese society.

Currency, the preface of the Constitution says “China is currently in the primary stage of socialism”. The phrase “is currently” would be changed into “will be over a long period of time”.

The principle that China remains in the early stage of socialism may well justify the suppression of anti-government activities in the name of solidifying socialism, says Sun Yi.

But Tian Jiyun, a member of the constitutional revision committee, said: “We will only make amendments that are deemed necessary and relevant conditions are ripe.”

In a recent interview with a German newspaper, NPC chairman Li Peng said “rise of a political opposition would invite chaos comparable to that of the Cultural Revolution”.

But Jiang confirmed that a social environment ruled by law is now becoming a reality in China, and said the blatant trampling of the Constitution during the turbulent Cultural Revolution would never be repeated.

He reminded people that the authority of the Constitution is still not completely enforced, and a few problems still exist.

For some analysts here, the string of political anniversaries in 1999 has made the government more sensitive to open dissent – hence the planned constitutional amendments relating to “crimes endangering state security”.

This 1999, China will mark the 50th year since the founding of the People’s Republic, the 40th anniversary of the “peaceful liberation” of Tibet, the 10th year since the Tiananmen crackdown, and the 20th anniversary of its reform and opening up policy.