An amendment to the Constitution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was approved Thursday morning at the closing session of the Party's 16th National Congress, with the "important thought of the Three Representatives" being written into the constitution.

The amendment, proposed by the 15th CPC Central Committee, was examined and unanimously adopted by the delegates to the congress and came into force Thursday.

The CPC represents the development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people, it says.

As this year marks the 80th birthday of the CPC constitution, the new amendment draws close attention from both home and abroad. It is widely believed that the new amendment serves as a political declaration of the CPC in the new century and will exert far-reaching influence on the Party's development in the future.

So far, altogether 14 amendments and improvements of different scales and at different levels have been made since 1922.

According to the new amendment, the CPC is the vanguard both of the Chinese working class and of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation as well as the core of leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The amendment also clearly defines that Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and "the important thought of Three Representatives" should be taken as the Party's guide to action and that the "Three Representatives" is a guiding ideology that the Party must uphold for a long time to come.

The amendment also incorporates into the constitution the idea of building a well-off society in an all-round way, which is an objective set by the current Congress.

The amendment also includes the following:

* To uphold and improve the basic economic system with public ownership playing a dominant role and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side;

* To keep and improve the current distribution system under which distribution according to work is dominant and a variety of modes of distribution co-exist;

* To uphold and improve the socialist market economy;

* To implement the strategy of rejuvenation of the nation through science and education and that of sustainable development;

* To promote a co-ordinated development of the socialist material, political and spiritual civilizations; the rule of law and build a socialist country under the rule of law;

* To combine the rule of law with the rule of virtue.

The amendment also says that it is conducive to reinforcing the Party's class foundation and expanding its mass base.

It makes clear that any Chinese worker, farmer, member of the armed forces, intellectual or any advanced element of other social strata who has reached the age of 18 and who accepts the Party's program and constitution and is willing to join and work actively in one of the Party organizations, carry out the Party's decisions and pay membership dues regularly may apply for membership to the CPC.

(China Daily November 15, 2002)