China Introduces Landmark Property Law

[Flatlander]

BEIJING — Chinese lawmakers formally introduced a hotly debated law to protect private property Thursday, saying that personal wealth in an increasingly prosperous China requires legal safeguards.
The proposed law marks one of the most explicit attempts to legally protect personal wealth by a government that only a generation ago preached communist egalitarianism and that still routinely intervenes in private lives.
Introducing the bill to the national legislature, Vice-Chairman Wang Zhaoguo, a member of the Communist Party's powerful Politburo, said the country's economic and social changes made the law necessary.
“As the reform and opening up of 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,” Mr. Wang said in a speech to 2,835 deputies of the National People's Congress gathered in the massive Great Hall of the People.

Full article here.

If this passes, it's great news for investors, and great news for the average Chinese. I think that this is the measure necessary to give Chinese residents the legal protection to start accumulating assets, as well as to provide them greater opportunity to become more entrepreneurial.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Great law
But a few things to take into account.

1 - The Chinese government can change laws to fit what they want at any given time and there is no recourse. They decide that they need a super-highway through your building whether or not this law exist they will take the building.

2 - Most property owners in Beijing are Beijing residents and there are a lot of people in Beijing that are not Beijing residents that technically cannot own anything and the housing that they live in for the most part is already marked for destruction. Not being Beijing residents I am not sure if they are relocated or not. And they are generally rather poor, unlike many Beijing residents

3 – Currently if you were a Beijing resident and you lived in building that was being taken over they relocate you to a new place to live. Now if it is private and the owner sells I do not think the Government will give you anything, your on your own.

 

[jdinca]

Looks good on paper but how fast do you think a communist regime can change they're minds, if somebody protected under this law makes waves and doesn't tow the party line?

 

[Sukerkin]

To be fair, the power of government to overwhelm the wishes of the individual is pretty universal.

Britain is technically a democracy but we, as subjects rather than citizens, actually have no 'rights' other than those that are allowed. Even in America, often touted as the light of freedom because it began as a republic, individuals are still, largely, at the mercy of the powers that be.

So, yes, Communist regimes have an unhappy tendency towards repression but so does every other form of government.

I think this has it's roots in human nature i.e. we have a tendency to form hierarchical structures where the power is condensed at the top. I'm not saying that that is intrinsically wrong (how else do you get anything done when dealing with large numbers of people?) but it does mean that every system of governance has oppression and corruption 'built in'.

 

[Steel Tiger]

This looks like a realisation by the Chinese government that the Chinese people like money, always have, always will. The situation in China has been drifting this way for about fifteen years now. Free-ish market economies, private property laws, these are anathema to communist philosophy.

What I can see is that no matter what you call the Chinese government - Imperial, National, Communist - it is, and always has been, the Chinese government and simply doesn't change.

 

[Flatlander]

What I can see is that no matter what you call the Chinese government - Imperial, National, Communist - it is, and always has been, the Chinese government and simply doesn't change.

Actually, their current Premier Wen Jiabao has recently admitted that China will eventually become a democracy:

Democracy will emerge once a "mature socialist system" develops but that might not happen for up to 100 years

Source.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Actually, their current Premier Wen Jiabao has recently admitted that China will eventually become a democracy:



Source.

That is very interesting, but wern't they supposed to be democratic during the Nationalist period.

 

[Xue Sheng]

That is very interesting, but wern't they supposed to be democratic during the Nationalist period.

This is not a new claim, it was also said by one of their finance ministers about 15 or so years ago and the time period is much the same.

I thought of something else to consider if this law passes.

China currently has no labor laws or laws concerning job safety. And if the government owns the factory, it may not produce much and it may be run by corrupt officials but it has some safety regulations, not many but some. Private companies have no such standards nor are they required to have them.

Sadly in Beijing if you are from the country side or a labor (meaning warehouse, or plumber, or mechanic, etc), even a Beijing native. You can and are worked long hours for little pay and in some cases in not so safe conditions. However if you are educated and or work for the government you work a basic 40 hour week with over time, vacation time (6 weeks) and get paid rather well.

How would this law effect this situation?