XI JINPING POISED FOR UNLIMITED REIGN AS PARTY SEEKS NEW LAW
▶ Changes could see the incumbent president become the country’s Mao for the 21st century
Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader for decades, could stay in office indefinitely after the Communist Party called for the removal of presidential term limits.
Mr Xi, 64, who is also party chief and seen as the country’s most formidable ruler since Mao Zedong, has been president since 2013 and he would have to step down in 2023 under the current system.
But the party’s Central Committee has proposed deleting from the constitution the stipulation that a president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms” of five years, the official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
“He will become emperor for life and the Mao Zedong of the 21st century,” said Willy Lam, politics professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“If his health permits he wants to serve 20 years, which would mean until 2032 as secretary general of the party and 2033 as state president.”
The change, which would also apply to the vice president, will be submitted to legislators at the annual full session of the National People’s Congress starting on March 5. Mr Xi is expected to be given a second term in office during the twoweek session.
The president has been chipping away at the collective model of leadership that was promoted by Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the country’s economic reforms in the 1980s. Mr Xi’s two predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, served two five-year terms.
At the 19th five-yearly Communist Party congress last October, he unveiled a new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee – its top ruling body – which lacked any clear heir apparent.
He was also given the customary second term as party general secretary, a job that does not have a formal term limit.
Mr Xi’s political philosophy, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, was included in the party’s charter, an honour only to Mao in his lifetime.
The Central Committee also proposed adding Mr Xi’s “thoughts” to the national constitution, again joining Mao.
Since taking over as party general secretary in 2012, Mr Xi has waged a battle against corruption that has seen more than one million people punished. Some also see the campaign as a means for him to eradicate internal opposition.
A major outcome of the 19th Party Congress was the decision to establish a new anti-graft agency, the National Supervisory Commission, which will co-ordinate investigations at all levels of government and expand its remit to include non-party members.
Mr Xi is keeping a key ally by his side as he cements power.
The feared former head of the anti-graft agency, Wang Qishan, stepped down from the Standing Committee last October because he had reached the traditional retirement age of 69.
But Mr Wang was selected this year as a deputy to the upcoming National People’s Congress annual session, fuelling speculation that he could become vice president or gain some other influential role.
Another ally and new Standing Committee member, Li Zhanshu, could become the head of the National People’s Congress.
“Xi would then ensure that his constitutional reform is adopted without opposition,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, China politics specialist at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Mr Xi’s presidency has been marked by the return of a personality cult and a major crackdown on democracy and human rights.
This year the party mouthpiece People’s Daily further cemented his elevation by publishing an article that for the first time referred to him as “lingxiu” – a Mao-era honorific with more reverential and spiritual connotations than the ordinary terms.