CHINA’S PRESIDENT, XI JINPING, BECOMES THE COUNTRY’S MOST POWERFUL LEADER SINCE MAO, WITH THE COMMUNIST PARTY’S VOTE TO ENSHRINE HIS IDEOLOGY INTO LAW. THE MOVE ALLOWS HIM TO RULE FOR LIFE.
Has his ideology enshrined in constitution
BEIJING • Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, has been launched into the same political league as Mao Tse-tung after China’s Communist Party voted to enshrine his ideology into the state’s constitution.
The move is being seen as significant in China, which is thought to have been ruled by collective responsibility and consensus among senior leaders since Chairman Mao’s death in 1976.
With the party’s support firmly behind him, Xi will now be emboldened to continue his strong style of authoritarian rule at home and muscular foreign policy abroad.
There is growing speculation that Xi is seeking to break with precedent and extend his power beyond two five-year terms. Any attempt to do so has now been made easier, given his preeminent position in the constitution. It means he could rule for life.
Only Mao, considered the founding father of modern China, had his ideology enshrined into the party constitution when he was still alive. Deng Xiaoping, architect of China’s reforms, had the honour awarded after his death. Hu Jintao and Zhang Zemin also had their guiding thoughts enshrined, but without their names attached and after they served as president.
“This is Xi’s era — and it’s an era he has created for himself,” said Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based political commentator.
“Mao had to wait 24 years until he had his ideology included in the constitution, but for Xi it was only five.”
The party yesterday unanimously passed an amendment to include Xi Jinping: Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as one of its guiding principles.
It was agreed by a unanimous vote on the final day of the Communist Party’s congress in Beijing’s cavernous Great Hall of the People.
“The Chinese people and nation have a great and bright future ahead,” Xi told party delegates as the meeting came to a close. “Living in such a great era, we are all the more confident and proud, and also feel the heavy weight of responsibility upon us.”