China nears vote on landmark property bill- Xinhua

BEIJING, Oct 30 (Reuters) China's top legislative body is close to taking a vote on a landmark property bill that has been debated for nearly five years and maintains that state ownership supersedes private property rights, state media said.

Lawmakers with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Sunday began a discussion of the sixth version of the property bill, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

A report from the NPC Standing Committee said legislators ''have achieved consensus on major issues and consider the draft is well-written'', said the Xinhua news agency.

The bill should be voted on by the NPC as soon as possible, the report suggested.

The Property Law has galvanised political debate, one camp favouring stronger protections for China's growing private sector while the other is worried about fire sales of state assets, which they fear could undermine government economic control and stoke popular discontent about corruption.

The bill was first submitted to the legislature in 2002 and had gone through five readings. No law has ever had more than five readings, according to Xinhua.

The bill was withdrawn from the NPC's full session in March amid worries that such a law -- the country's first to protect private ownership -- could undermine China's socialist system if the rights of individuals superseded the state's right to care for the collective good, Xinhua.

Opposition faded after drafters revised the fifth version, debated last August, which put state ownership rights at the heart of the economic system.

Reuters DH VP0714