Law change ushers in ‘Emperor Xi’
CHINA: Xi Jinping could rule China until his death after the governing Communist Party said it intended to scrap a clause in the constitution that limits presidents to two five-year terms.
The amendment is almost certain to be approved by the country’s rubberstamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, when it convenes in Beijing next week. The change will give President Xi, 64, more power than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, who died in 1976.
Willy Lam, a political observer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: ‘‘Xi Jinping has fulfilled his ambition to become the Mao Zedong of the 21st century. After scrapping the term limit of the presidency he will certainly stay until 2028. And I think he aspires to serve until 2032-33, for 20 years. That’s pretty much for life.’’
Xi became president five years ago and his power has grown steadily ever since. Rivals have fallen foul of corruption investigations and the party honoured his rise last year by enshrining his political thoughts into the state constitution, making it a guiding principle not only for party members but also for all Chinese citizens.
The decision to amend the constitution is thought to have been reached in January but was announced on Sunday, shortly after the close of the seven-day Chinese new year holiday and only one week before the national congress is due to open in Beijing. The change was reported first in English, carried by the official Xinhua News agency, and moments later in a Chinese-language version.
Word quickly spread in social media without any overt criticism, in part because restrictions on freedom of speech have been tightened so much that open criticism of the president can be swiftly punished. Some posts, however, referred to a failed and muchridiculed attempt in 1915-16 to restore the imperial court and others suggested that emigration searches rose sharply after the news. One pointed out that George Washington, the US founding father, refused to serve a third term; another referred obliquely to cars stuck in the wrong lane, or in reverse gear. The Hong Kongbased pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said the change to the law would usher in ‘‘the era of Emperor Xi’’.
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the party-run newspaper Global Times, urged the public to back the party’s decision. An editorial argued that Xi had been effective in holding dual roles as president and chairman of the military commission, and that removing the term limits was desirable. ‘‘This constitutional amendment, by abolishing the term limit, will help . . . to further perfect the leadership of our party and country,’’ it said.
Speculation has been growing about the lack of an obvious successor since last October when Xi was appointed to his second term as the party chief without naming a political heir.
He has said that he intends to make China a ‘‘socialist world power’’ by the middle of the century. China has the world’s second-largest economy after the United States and has extensive trading networks and investments from the developed world and throughout Africa, central America and the rest of Asia. It also has a burgeoning blue-water navy and military capabilities.
‘‘He just cannot stop at 10 years. He needs to have multiple terms in order to fulfil the long-term goals. He’s convinced he’s indispensable,’’ Lam said.
The tradition of limiting presidencies to 10 years emerged under Deng Xiaoping, China’s de facto ruler for 12 years without ever assuming any top position, who sought to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marked the Mao era. The Times