REUTERS.
* China set to pass preamble on new civil code
* Code shows social progress, underwhelms on property rights – lawyers
* Laws to stop short of enshrining rights of individuals
BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) – China’s Communist leaders will this week introduce sweeping new laws that codify social responsibilities for the country’s 1.4 billion citizens while also providing some modest new protections.
The preamble of what state media is calling China’s “declaration of rights” is expected to be passed by the close of the National People’s Congress (NPC) next Wednesday, paving the way for more detailed laws expected to be passed in 2020.
The changes are part of President Xi Jinping’s wider push to align the legal system with the country’s social and economic modernisation and for some legal reformers, the code is a test of how far China will go in allowing civil liberties that might impinge upon state power.