China Moves to Let Xi Stay in Power by Abolishing Term Limit
The Chinese Communist Party which is at the heart of the power pyramid in Beijing paved the way for President Xi Jinping to continue in office beyond his second five-year term by altering the constitutional provision that sets a limit of two terms for the office of the President of China.
A bland statement from the official news agency Xinhua noted on Sunday: “The Communist Party of China Central Committee proposed to remove the expression that the President and Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China ‘shall serve no more than two consecutive terms’ from the country’s Constitution.”
The removal of the two-term ceiling for President Xi is not unexpected and was anticipated even in October last when the party endorsed a second term for ‘Emperor’ Xi , along with an amendment that added his name and ideology to the constitution. This significant addition to the constitution brought Xi Jinping on par with the party founder and the Great Helmsman Mao Zedong and his successor Deng Xiaoping.
The ideology that is associated with Xi is ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era’ and with the latest amendment announced on Sunday, it is evident that the new era envisioned by Beijing will have a long term new helmsman in Xi Jinping.
This announcement to remove the two-term ceiling for the President and the Vice-President will have a very significant impact on the current distribution of power in China and marks the steady and determined consolidation by the Xi Jinping cluster.
The constitutional amendment comes ahead of the annual meeting of the Chinese parliament that opens on March 5, where Xi Jinping will be formally elected to his second five year term in office.
The current number two in the party hierarchy is Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the traditional division of responsibility has the PM being the economic czar and the hands-on political leader for a billion plus Chinese citizens. But all eyes in Beijing are on Wang Qishan, a close Xi confidante and the face of the anti-corruption drive that has seen many powerful heads roll over the last year.
In October 2017 at the 19th party congress, Wang, then 69 years old, had stepped down from the all powerful seven-member Standing Committee on reaching what is deemed to be the retirement age for senior Chinese political leaders. But in a move that did not go unnoticed at the time, Xi Jinping appointed Wang as a parliament delegate, thereby enabling his potential appointment as the Vice President (VP).
It is instructive to note that the Sunday amendment to the constitution refers to the two-term rule being lifted for both the President and the VP and this will lay the foundation for an extended Xi-Wang reign in current Chinese governance.
The primary inference that follows is that Xi Jinping will now combine three unfettered hats—that of party supremo as general secretary; President of China, with no time limit; and the undisputed military leader who has purged many top generals for graft and thereby established his authority over the PLA.
There are some muted murmurs on social media in China about why such an amendment is not desirable but in my view, they will remain effete. The arrival of the new emperor in Beijing was on the cards and all of China’s principal interlocutors, including India will have to deal with this visible consolidation of political and military power by the new helmsman.
