Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The National People's Congress approved on Sunday a series of amendments to the state constitution, including landmark provisions that refer to human rights, protecting private property.

The nearly 3,000 delegates of China's rubber-stamp legislature concluded their 10-day session by making 13 changes to the 1982 constitution which also included codifying existing powers of the state president and replacing the phrase 'martial law' with 'state of emergency.'

Five decades after sweeping to power, a period during which private property has been nationalized and bloody campaigns have been waged against landlords, China's parliament amended the constitution to add the clause: "Private property obtained legally is inviolable."

The amendments mark the fourth time the constitution has been changed and were passed by a vote of 2,863 in favour to just 10 opposed, or 99 per cent approval.

The amendment should help stop state officials from requisitioning property and private possessions and attract more foreign investments.

The constitutional amendment  was largely symbolic: China already has laws on private property, but with millions of people starting businesses and buying homes and stocks, entrepreneurs have lobbied for constitutional guarantees.

Another amendment says 'the state respects and protects human rights'. It is widely seen as an admission that existing constitutional protections on human rights are far from adequate.

But the language said nothing about protecting free political expression - a key issue for government critics.

Delegates also enshrined the 'Three Represents' theory attributed to former president Jiang Zemin into the preamble of the constitution, a move aimed at further expanding the Communist Party's ideological stranglehold over the state. The 'Three Represents' maintains that the ruling party, and therefore the state, represents "advanced production forces, advanced cultural forces and the overwhelming majority of Chinese people".