Commentary

China establishes property rights

From an Associated Press article “Private property may be newest right in China.” China’s leaders sent its legislature a proposed constitutional amendment on Monday to protect private property for the first time since the 1949 communist revolution – a key step toward cementing the status of capitalism in a nation undergoing radical change. Approval seemed certain. Communist leaders who control the legislature already have endorsed private property as essential to pushing ahead economic reforms that have let millions of Chinese lift themselves out of poverty. . . . . Such changes would bring China’s legal framework in line with its market-oriented reality. Entrepreneurs who play a critical role in creating jobs and wealth have been lobbying for the constitutional protection. . . . . The proposed amendment on property says “private property obtained legally shall not be violated,” according to Xinhua. It said that would put private property “on an equal footing with public property.”