China will protect pvt property

Introducing the bill to the national legislature, Vice Chairman Wang Zhaoguo, a member of the Communist Party8217;s powerful Politburo, said the country8217;s economic and social changes made the law necessary. Enacting it, he said, would help 8220;safeguard the immediate interests of the people.8221;

8220;As the reform and opening up of the economy develop, people8217;s living standards have improved in general and they urgently require effective protection of their own lawful property accumulated through hard work,8221; Wang said in a speech to 2,835 deputies of the National People8217;s Congress gathered in the Great Hall of the People.

Though the measure is certain to pass the party-dominated congress when its annual session ends March 16, enforcement is likely to run into interference.

Drafts of the property law have been divisively argued for 14 years. Economics aside, bringing the measure to a vote this year gives President Hu Jintao a chance to display how well he can tamp down dissent and broker compromises among party factions ahead of a conclave later this year where he will seek a second five-year mandate as party chief, Chinese politics watchers said.