The Third Plenum of the Communist Party of China's 16th Central Committee will be held in Beijing this October, it was decided Monday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao. [File Photo]

The plenum will mainly discuss how to further improve China's socialist market economic system and debate a proposed amendment to the Chinese Constitution.

The decision to convene the plenum was made at Monday's meeting of the Central Committee's Political Bureau in Beijing, presided over by General Secretary Hu Jintao.

The Political Bureau said that the target set forth at the 16th Party National Congress of establishing a complete socialist market economic system and a more vigorous and more open economic system calls for further economic restructuring to stimulate economic and social development.

According to the meeting, reform should be stepped up to further emancipate and expand the forces of production at a time when economic globalization and science and technology are accelerating, and when China is working towards moderate prosperity and building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

A stable Chinese Constitution serves as the foundation for the country's stability, the Political Bureau said.

The current Constitution generally accommodates the needs of reform, opening-up and the modernization drive, the Political Bureau said.

However, certain amendments are still needed to promote economic and social development, it said.

Deng Xiaoping Theory and the "Three Represents" should serve as guidelines for both the reform of the economic system and the revision of the Constitution. The meeting said the spirit of the 16th Party National Congress of emancipating the mind, seeking truth and keeping pace with the times should be fully carried out while fulfilling both the tasks mentioned.

The Political Bureau also emphasized the importance of pursuing a correct political direction and soliciting opinions from all circles while revising the Constitution.

After being debated at the Third Plenum, the proposed constitutional amendment will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation in accordance with legal procedure.

At the plenum, the Political Bureau will also report on its work to the Central Committee. Both the bureau and the committee were elected last November at the Party's 16th National Congress.

Constitutional Amendments

China's existing Constitution, consisting of 138 articles in four chapters, was formulated in 1982 and has by now amended for three times, respectively in 1988, 1993 and 1999.

The First Session of the Seventh NPC in 1988 approved amendments to Article 11 of the Constitution, which says the state permits private economy to exist and grow within the limits prescribed by law and the private economy is a complement to the socialist public economy.

The First Session of the Eighth NPC made nine amendments to the Constitution, adding to the Constitution the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhering to reform, opening up and multi-party cooperation under the leadership of the CPC and the political consultation system.

The Second Session of the Ninth NPC in 1999 made six amendments to the Constitution, enshrining the guiding role of Deng Xiaoping Theory. In the amendments, rule of law is stipulated as a national policy and the role the private economic sector is further highlighted as important in the national economic system.

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