China: Then & Mao

Change could make Xi ‘prez for life’

China’s ruling Communist Party has proposed scrapping term limits for the country’s president, the official news agency reported 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 Jinping has finally achieved his ultimate goal . . . that is to be the Mao Zedong of the 21st century,” said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, referring to the founder of communist China.

Xi (right), 64, cemented his status as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao at last year’s 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 fiveyear term as general secretary.

Xi has taken control of a wide range of political, economic and other functions, a break with the past two decades of collective leadership.

“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 oneman show,” Lam said. “For Xi Jinping, whatever he says is the law. There are no longer any checks and balances.”

Xi is set to be appointed to his second term March 5. The proposal to end term limits will likely be approved at that meeting.