China's communist party announced it would amend the country's constitution for the fourth time since it was drawn up in 1982, including a clause on the protection of private property as well as references to the political theory of former president Jiang Zemin.
The move to give equal status to private and public ownership is a demonstration of Beijing's commitment to capitalist economics and is intended to nurture private business.
Jiang's �Three Represents� theory will be established alongside Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory as a �guiding principle of the nation�.
This theory is intended to bring communist theory closer to the country's capitalist practice.