China’s Xi could rule indefinitely

CHINA’S president could stay in power indefinitely after the Communist Party announced it would remove the tenyear limit on holding the top job.

Xi Jinping is seen as the country’s most formidable ruler since Chairman Mao.

The 64-year-old has been president since 2013 and would have to step down in 2023 under the current system.

However, the party’s central committee has proposed changing China’s constitution to remove a rule that a president shall serve no more than two five-year consecutive terms.

‘I think 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.

‘What is happening is potentially very dangerous because the reason why Mao Zedong made one mistake after another was because China at the time was a one-man show.’

He added: ‘For Xi Jinping, whatever he says is the law. There are no longer any checks and balances.’