Party seeks to end term limits, paving way for Xi to retain rule
China’ s ruling Communist Party has proposed scrapping term limits for the country’s president, the offifficial news agency said Sunday, appearing to lay the groundwork for party leader Xi Jinping to rule as president beyond 2023. The party’s Central Committee proposed to remove from the constitution the expression that China’s president and vice president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms,” the Xinhua News Agency said. “Xi J in ping finally his goal when he embarked on Chinese politics — is to be the Mao of the 21 st century ,” said Willy Lam, a political analyst at Chinese University in Hong Kong, referring to the of communist China. Xi, cemented his status as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao in 1970s at last year’s twice-a-decade Communist Party congress, where his name and a political theory attributed to him were added to the party constitution as he was given a second year term as general secretary. It was the latest move by the party signaling Xi’s willingness to break with tradition and centralize power under him. Xi has taken control of an unusually wide range of political, economic other functions, a break with the past two decades of collective leadership. “What is happening is very dangerous because the reason why Mao Zedong made one mistake after another was China at the time was a oneman show,” Lam said. “For Xi Jinping, whatever he says is the law. There are no longer any checks Xi is coming to the end of hi s first five -year term as president and is set to be appointed to his second term at an meeting of the rubber-stamp Parliament starts March 5. The proposal to end term limits will likely be approved at that meeting. Term limits on offiffice-holders have been in since they were included in the 1982 constitution, when lifetime tenure was abolished. Political analysts said the party would likely seek to justify the proposed removal of the presidential term limit by citing Xi’s vision of establishing a prosperous, modern society by 2050. “The theoretical justification for removing tenure limits is that China requires a visionary, capable leader to see China through this multi-decade grand plan,” Lam said. But the aspect of it could just be Mao Zedonglike megalomania; he is just convinced that he is to be an emperor for life,” he said. HuX in gdou,aBeijing- based political commentator, said while Xi might need an year term or two to carry out his plans, the country is unlikely to return to an era of lifetime tenure for heads of state. “President Xi may be in a leading position for a relatively long Hu said. “This is benefificial to pushing forward reforms and fight against corrup - tion, but it’s impossible for China to have lifetime tenure again.” “We have drawn profound lessons from the system of lifetime tenures,” Hu said, referring to the chaos and turmoil of Mao’s 1976 Cultural Revolution. Xi’s image dominate so ffi ff ipropaganda, prompting suggestions that he is trying to build a cult of personality. spokespeople reject such talk, insisting Xi is the core of its seven-member Standing Committee, not a lone strongman.