Friend of 2point6billion, Jerry Stryker, shares his thoughts on what’s happening with the China’s new property rights law and discussions about it at the NPC…

“The Economist” again, this time the print edition: a very informative article on the property rights law about to be approved by the NPC (National People’s Congress). Be sure to read the article all the way to the end, because the enthusiasm in the first portion of the article is substantially moderated by realities brought out in the latter portion.

But first, a word from the NPC itself.  The official NPC website highlights an article from the People’s Daily Online, saying that:

After seven discussions within the NPC Standing Committee and more than 100 symposiums and legislative meetings based on over 10,000 submissions from the public on the full text, the draft of a Property Law was finally submitted to the fifth session of the 10th National People’s Congress on March 8. A careful reading of the final version of the draft enables people to see that it fully embodies the spirit and principles of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.

Property Law with Chinese characteristics serves China’s basic economic system.

The explanation of what is meant by a “property law with Chinese characteristics” which followed is rather murky, but perhaps the essence of it is caught elsewhere, in these two excerpts from a statement made to the NPC Thursday by a vice-chair of the NPC’s Standing Committee:

Keeping public ownership dominant and having the economic sectors of diverse forms of ownership develop side by side constitute the basic socialist economic system of the State in the primary stage of socialism.  Enactment of the property law will serve to define the scope of State-owned property and collective-owned property and the exercise of State ownership and collective ownership and strengthen protection of State-owned and collective-owned property, and will be conducive to consolidating and developing the economic sector of public ownership; and it will serve to define the scope of private property and protect private property in accordance with law, which will be conducive to encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of the economic sector of non-public ownership.

As the reform and opening-up and the economy develop, people’s living standards have improved in general, and they urgently require effective protection of their own lawful property accumulated through hard work, of the right to land contractual management they enjoy in accordance with law, and of their other lawful rights and interests. Enactment of the property law will serve to define and protect private ownership, condominium right, right to land contractual management and house-site-use right, for the purpose of protecting the immediate interests of the people, stimulating their vigor to create wealth and promoting social harmony. (source: http://english.people.com.cn/200703/08/eng20070308_355491.html)

Reference: Property Rights in China, China’s Next Revolution (Economist, March, 2007)

Thanks Jerry for sharing your introductory comments.  We look forward to the next one!

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