China OKs allowing Xi to rule indefinitely
Legislature almost unanimously invalidates president’s two-term limit
China’s national legislature approved constitutional changes Sunday that could allow Xi Jinping to remain president for life and retain indefinitely his iron grip on the world’s most populous nation.
The National People’s Congress approved elimination of a two-term limit on the presidency with little dissent; only two of the almost 3,000 hand-picked members voted against the changes.
The vote took place at the Great Hall of the People on iconic Tiananmen Square, where almost 30 years ago student-led prodemocracy protests were crushed by the communist regime.
The changes end term limits adopted in 1982 to prevent the type of totalitarian repression highlighted by Mao Zedong during his brutal Cultural Revolution. The constitutional changes also adopt Xi’s “Thoughts on Socialism” and recognize the unconditional authority of the Communist Party.
Xi has won widespread support in China for his pragmatic approach to economic growth and his crackdown on corruption. But Cary Huang, a columnist with the South China Morning Post, warned that Xi has expanded his crackdown to include political dissent, citing a “broader crusade to root out anyone disloyal or who fails to comply with his orders.”
Li Datong, a former top newspaper editor, issued an open letter to the members of the congress calling the two-term limit “the highest and most effective legal restriction preventing personal dictatorship and personal domination of the Party and the government.” She warned that the decision to drop the limit would subject China to the “ridicule of the civilized nations.”
Under Xi, China has asserted itself in Asian affairs, including a controversial effort to renew its territorial claims in the South China Sea. It boosted its military capabilities and unveiled a vast international logistics and transportation project called the “Belt and Road” initiative that aims to connect Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.