China's parliament has agreed landmark changes to the constitution that will protect private property for the first time since the 1949 revolution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3509850.stm

so much for communism? With the communist party becoming more capitalistic, in the next 10 or 20 years will they succumb completely? Or is this just a small step that goes nowhere?

I think that with only 10% of the population being in the communist party, that leaves over one billion who arent, the more reforms the faster things should change then IMO.

There will always be those who wish to have a communistic way of life. For the few it is a very good life but for the rest of the people it isn't as good as it should be. This is because the people that run the communistic type of government horde the monies for themselves and thier friends while those others get only what they need and those needs are very basic. The good life is for those in the higherarchy of the communist system and never forget that. At least with demoracy you can change parties every so often if you don't like what's going on, but those in charge still have it pretty damn good as compaired to the rest of the population. The differences being that more money is spread around with democracy than communism to more people and many other freedoms are to be had by many more people.

so much for communism? With the communist party becoming more capitalistic, in the next 10 or 20 years will they succumb completely? Or is this just a small step that goes nowhere?
Hopefully. One would think that the fall of the Berlin wall would've been enough of a wakeup call, but the last vestiges of communism/socialism are still in their death throes.

Come on guys. The Cold War is over. You lost. Just say GG and hang it up. Things are greener over on the capitalism side.

Communism is dying out, and it's unlikely it will ever live again. I think China might finally be realizing this ...

Hopefully this will make them a better subject to be a US ally. They would definitely be one worth getting.