‘Scrapping prez term limit will take China back to Mao era’

: The Communist Party’s proposal to scrap the two-term limit for the presidency and pave the way for an unlimited tenure for President Xi Jinping will take China back to the “Mao era”, a veteran journalist has said, indicating the cult of personality around the iconic Mao Zedong.

“I had no idea that such a change of term would be possible and learnt about it from the Xinhua (official news agency) report. The cancellation of the term of office is a matter of personal interest to every Chinese citizen. We think it is going back to the Mao era,” Li Datong, the former editor of the China Youth Daily whose letter on the move created ripples online, said.

Xi’s name and ideology, like those of Mao and Deng Xiaoping, have been enshrined in the Constitution.

The rubber-stamp National People's Congress is all but certain to endorse the move when its annual session begins next week.

“I consider it a legitimate and lawful right of a Chinese citizen to comment on a publicly issued proposal to amend the Constitution,” Li said during an interaction on WeChat, which he had used to release his letter, only to have it deleted soon after.

Li’s letter came against the backdrop of a concerted propaganda effort by the Communist Party to defend the move.

When asked about the other proposed changes, Li said: “Nothing else matters. This is the only substantive change.”

THE COMMUNIST PARTY PROPOSED THE REMOVAL OF THE TWOTERM PRESIDENTIAL LIMIT, WHICH MEANS XI WILL LIKELY CONTINUE AFTER COMPLETING HIS SECOND TERM IN 2022.