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SCMP Reporter

BEIJING has ruled out a major revision of the constitution to accommodate growing demands for faster democracy.

  Ideology and propaganda officials have again criticised ''bourgeois-liberal'' intellectuals for allegedly undermining the authority of the Communist Party.

  The revision of the 1982 Constitution is a major item on the agenda of the First Session of the Eighth National People's Congress, set to open in Beijing around March 20.

  But according to a source, revisions to reflect changes in the political structure have been ruled out.

  The source said the bulk of changes would be in economic policy.

 Clauses in the Constitution indicating China must adopt a ''planned economy'' and that the bulk of the economy must remain ''wholly owned by the people'' will be taken out.

  Another revision will be to change the tenure of members of county and village-level people's congresses from three to five years.

  No changes will be made to political principles, including the ''separation of party and government'' or ''power-sharing'' with non-communist elements in society.

  ''No radical changes in the constitution are possible because the leadership has put a moratorium on political reform,'' the legislative source said.

  He added that in two recent conferences on constitutional law, both of which were sanctioned by the Government, lawyers and experts had lobbied for an overhaul of the Constitution.

  In recent years, liberal intellectuals have urged the abolition of clauses including ''Communist Party leadership'' and ''the dictatorship of the proletariat''.

  At a conference held in December by the People's University, moderate constitutional lawyer Mr Wang Shuwen also called for the establishment of a ''specialist committee'' to see whether laws and policies contravened the constitution.

  Meanwhile, sources in Beijing have confirmed reports that the new head of the Propaganda Department, Mr Ding Guan'gen, had criticised a host of liberal intellectuals for undermining the leadership of the party.

  ''Bourgeois-liberal elements have become active again,'' Mr Ding, a bridge partner of patriarch Mr Deng Xiaoping, said.

  He blasted journalist Hu Jiwei, legal scholar Mr Yu Haocheng and others for ''once again publicising their bourgeois-liberal views in our journals''.

  Editors of the magazine The Future and Development, which carried the articles of Mr Hu and Mr Yu late last year, were recently given severe warnings by the Propaganda Department.

  The sources said the harsh views of Mr Ding, usually considered a moderate, reflected instructions given by Mr Deng that the party needed to ''continue to fight against bourgeois liberalisation''.

   But a number of lesser-known publications, specially those outside Beijing, are still running the articles by liberal scholars.



Calls for democracy silenced as Beijing rules out change