PARTY SETS STAGE FOR XI’S LIFETIME RULE

Proposal to remove presidential term limits carries big risks, say analysts

CHINA’S Communist Party (CPC) has handed President Xi Jinping an open path to indefinite rule, a move analysts warn carries enormous risks by abandoning a succession model that brought stability after turbulent decades under Mao.

Xi, who has concentrated power, accumulated titles and purged potential rivals since becoming head of state in 2013, could remain president for life after the party proposed abolishing a rule limiting the top leader to two five-year terms.

But giving all the levers of power to one man could further erode human rights, unsettle other nations and even set up traps for Xi’s rule at home, analysts warn.

“The two-term limit was supposed to increase stability. By ruling beyond the standard 10year tenure, Xi will be subject to closer scrutiny by Chinese citizens and the political elite,” said Simone van Nieuwenhuizen, Sydney-based co-author of China and the New Maoists.

The announcement made abruptly on Sunday chips away at the era of “collective” leadership that was championed by reform leader Deng Xiaoping to prevent the return of another Mao-like cult figure.

Xi’s two predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, served two five-year terms, providing a smooth succession that accompanied China’s rise to become the world’s second-largest economy.

But Xi, 64, has adopted Mao’s playbook, tightening his grip with a relentless crackdown on civil society and corruption, enshrining his name in the party constitution and building his own personality cult.

Remaining in power beyond 2023 gives Xi a chance to push through his vision of a rejuvenated China with global clout, a prosperous society, a revived Silk Road trade route and a powerful military. China’s legislature is expected to give Xi his second term and remove the 10-year limit at its annual meeting on March 5.

“Term limits were a crucial part of the institutionalisation of the leadership transition, something that has plagued Communist parties, leading to both tyrannical reigns and catastrophic party decline,” said Jonathan Sullivan, director of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University.

The rule enabled smooth transitions and preserved party unity, he said.

“The removal of term limits is a rejection of all this and it comes with real risks for stability in the long term.”

Xi hinted that he intended to stay in power when no heir apparent was anointed at the party congress in October.

The state-run Global Times tabloid said the central committee’s proposal to lift term limits would “improve” leadership.

“From the anti-corruption campaign to comprehensively advancing the rule of law to profound economic restructuring, the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core has sturdily opened a new era for a hopeful China,” the daily said in an editorial.

Sam Crane, a Chinese history expert at Williams College in the US, was sceptical about reforms.

“I doubt he will use his political power to force economic reform because that would require empowering non-party economic agents,” Crane said.

“His chief focus, I suspect, will be further repression of civil society, a continuation of his political orientation since 2012.”

Susan Shirk, chairman of the 21st Century China Centre at the University of California in San Diego, said there were “acute” risks.

“One is the risk of making bad decisions while surrounded by sycophants,” Shirk said.

“One of the bad decisions is to control information and civil society to an extreme extent that the Chinese talent and the middle class ultimately will find incompatible with their ambitions for their children.”

On Twitter, Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, who has been fighting off jail terms over his role in pro-democracy protests, declared “the era of Emperor Xi”.

Some people on the Weibo website said they were “witnessing history”, but others were critical, with one saying: “I feel like I’m living in North Korea.”

Censors struck down unfavourable comments and blocked users from reposting an image of Winnie the Pooh hugging a giant jar of honey and the message :“Find the thing you love and stick with it.”

Xi has been compared to the portly cartoon bear.