Small Strides

In theory, guaranteed rights

The outcome was never in doubt. The 3,000 delegates of the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament that convenes for about two weeks every year, unanimously approved a new constitution late last week. The lack of suspense belied the significance of the vote: the latest charter, the fourth since the Communist takeover in 1949, sweeps away many of the last vestiges of the late Mao Tse-tung and institutionalizes the reforms of Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping.

The constitution restores many of the fundamental rights that were guaranteed in the 1954 charter but were scuttled by Mao in 1974. In theory, at least, the document guarantees freedom of speech, assembly and religious belief, as well as freedom from arbitrary arrest. But as Peng Zhen, vice chairman of the congress, pointed out, individual rights must not infringe upon the interests of the state. Apparently anxious to avoid the spread of militant labor unions like Poland's Solidarity, the drafting committee eliminated guarantees from the old charter that gave workers the right to strike.

The new constitution reorganizes the government and highlights differences between party and state. It restores the post of state chairman, scrapped by Mao Tse-tung in 1968, and sets up a central military commission to take control of the roughly 4 million-strong People's Liberation Army from the party. The charter also marks the eclipse of the people's communes, one of Mao's proudest legacies, by taking away the political duties of its leaders.

The major theme,however, was not so much politics as economics. Painfully aware of the costly lessons of the past 24 years, Premier Zhao Ziyang unveiled a belated five-year plan for China's development from 1981 to 1985 that stressed small strides instead of great leaps. Zhao predicted an average annual growth rate of only 4%, which, in fact, has already been surpassed in the past two years (1982 growth rate: 5.7%). Zhao was also refreshingly candid about his country's economic difficulties, admitting that Peking's decision three years ago to shift emphasis from traditional heavy industry toward light industry turned out to be inefficient and time consuming.

The Chinese leadership added a provision to the new constitution that enables it to set up special administrative zones with their own rules and regulations. In doing so, it seemed to be laying the legal groundwork to allow Taiwan and Hong Kong to keep their economic systems intact if and when they rejoin the mainland.

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