Alwaght- President Xi Jinping of China could become the emperor of the country with the world’s largest population after the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee on Sunday set the stage for President Jinping to stay in office indefinitely, with a proposal to remove a constitutional clause limiting presidential service to just two terms in office.
According to the Chinese constitution, the presidential term is limited to two five-year terms. Since the rule of Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the Chinese economic renaissance, the Communist Party restricted this post tenure to two terms to ensure smooth power transitions in the country. The law was aimed at steering clear of long-term rule of such strongmen as Mao Zedong, who ruled the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
This is the first time in modern China that the Communist Party is seeking to remove the presidential term cap from the constitution. Many analysts suggest that the proposal is an effort by the ruling party to pave the way for Xi Jinping, 64, to stay in power for additional terms or even for life. His first five years will end on March 5, 2018, the time the National People’s Congress (NPC) will hold its annual meeting.
If the NPC adopts the proposal, which appears to be a highly done deal, President Xi can remain in office beyond end of his second term in 2023 to hold power in the country more than any other Chinese president, even Mao Zedong.
But how come the Communist Party is seeking to pass such a law? And what influences and results will this law bear for the international order?
Certainly, under the presidency of President Xi, China made remarkable advancement in terms of economic reforms, anti-corruption fight, and revival of the Chinese nationalism. The president designed a clear political vision to boost China’s position on the global stage. Highly ambitious plans such as the One Belt One Road initiative which aims to restore the ancient Silk Road in the form of new global trade corridor and also unveiling tremendous programs to eradicate the poverty in China by 2020 all substantiate his highly-cherished future vision.
Xi’s triumphs created the notion in the mind of a large part of the Communist Party’s political elites and decision-makers that within the timeframe 2020-2035 the country will require a powerful, unflinching, and progressive leader like President Xi Jinping. The alteration of the constitution will not necessarily mean that the president of China will be a life ruler.
Tom Rafferty, the manager for China affairs at the Economist Intelligence Unit, commented on the issue, saying: “While there appears little internal opposition to Xi at present, it could emerge in the future, such as in the event of economic instability or a mishandled international incident.”
Still, from another aspect, there is a notion that definitely the law will legitimize absolute rule in China. In this case, the ground will be prepared for consolidation of President Xi’s power at home, in time with his announcement that China put stronger resolve in its dealing with the international issues.
The government, since Xi’s assumption of the power in 2013, has been more assertive in cracking down on the home opponents and critics. Some analysts suggest that once the time cap is removed for the presidential post, a culture of cajolery will replace constructive criticism. They also expect further censorship and political clampdown.
“The question remains whether China is set to repeat past mistakes where unquestioning observance to its leadership contributed to disasters like the Great Leap Forward of the 1950s and Cultural Revolution a decade later. Academics and officials are increasingly reluctant to voice opinions that differ from the Party leadership, which is invariably hailed with gilded paeans in the state press, while critics are summarily detained, the Time magazine writes.
“There’s a risk of it become courtier culture, sycophancy, just telling him what he wants to hear,” says Professor Nick Bisley, an Asia expert at Australia’s La Trobe University. “It doesn’t have to be like that but the risks are very real and unsettling for those inside and outside China.”
“Xi should know the risks better than anyone. Like millions of his contemporaries, he was sent down to live in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution of the mid 1960s, reduced to toiling in fields and sleeping in a flea-infested cave in China’s hardscrabble central province of Shaanxi. His father was repeatedly purged by the Communist Party’s patriarch Mao Zedong,” the Time continues.
Meanwhile, his trademark ideology of the “Chinese Dream” and “great revival of the Chinese nation” has drawn uneasy comparisons with Mao-era sloganeering. This perfectly echoes characteristics of a resolved political leader who wants to uncontestedly tighten grip on power.
After Trumps coming to power in 2017, the China-US trade was intensified. This should be put down to the Beijing’s successful economic policies under XI who has triumphantly managed to challenge the US global domination. The shrinking American hegemony has set off the alarm bells for the US national security circles and pushed them to adopt a confrontational policy to curb China’s expansionism in East Asia. Under the conditions, continuation of rule of Xi Jinping will mean increasing West-China tensions in the future.
s post tenure to two terms to ensure smooth power transitions in the country. The law was aimed at steering clear of long-tern rule of such strongmen as Mao Zedong, who ruled the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
This is the first time in modern China that the Communist Party is seeking to remove the presidential term cap from the constitution. Many analysts suggest that the proposal is an effort by the ruling party to pave the way for Xi Jinping, 64, to stay in power for additional terms or even for life. His first five years will end on March 5, 2018, the time the National People’s Congress (NPC) will hold its annual meeting.
If the NPC adopts the proposal, which appears to be a highly done deal, President Xi can remain in office beyond end of his second term in 2023 to hold power in the country more than any other Chinese president, even Mao Zedong.
But how come the Communist Party is seeking to pass such a law? And what influences and results will this law bear for the international order?
Certainly, under the presidency of President Xi, China made remarkable advancement in terms of economic reforms, anti-corruption fight, and revival of the Chinese nationalism. The president designed a clear political vision to boost China’s position on the global stage. Highly ambitious plans such as the One Belt One Road initiative which aim to restore the ancient Silk Road in the form of new global trade corridor and also unveiling tremendous programs to eradicate the poverty in China by 2020 all substantiate his highly-cherished future vision.
Xi’s triumphs created the notion in the mind of a large part of the Communist Party’s political elites and decision-makers that within the timeframe 2020-2035 the country will require a powerful, unflinching, and progressive leader like President Xi Jinping. The alteration of the constitution will not necessarily mean that the president of China will be a life ruler.
Tom Rafferty, the manager for China affairs at the Economist Intelligence Unit, commented on the issue, saying: “While there appears little internal opposition to Xi at present, it could emerge in the future, such as in the event of economic instability or a mishandled international incident.”
Still, from another aspect, there is a notion that definitely the law will legitimize absolute rule in China. In this case, the ground will be prepared for consolidation of President Xi’s power at home, in time with his announcement that China will put stronger resolve in its dealing with the international issues.
The government, since Xi’s assumption of the power in 2013, has been more assertive in cracking down on the home opponents and critics. Some analysts suggest that once the time cap is removed for the presidential post, a culture of cajolery will replace constructive criticism. They also expect further censorship and political clampdown.
“The question remains whether China is set to repeat past mistakes where unquestioning observance to its leadership contributed to disasters like the Great Leap Forward of the 1950s and Cultural Revolution a decade later. Academics and officials are increasingly reluctant to voice opinions that differ from the Party leadership, which is invariably hailed with gilded paeans in the state press, while critics are summarily detained, the Time magazine writes.
“There’s a risk of it become courtier culture, sycophancy, just telling him what he wants to hear,” says Professor Nick Bisley, an Asia expert at Australia’s La Trobe University. “It doesn’t have to be like that but the risks are very real and unsettling for those inside and outside China.”
“Xi should know the risks better than anyone. Like millions of his contemporaries, he was sent down to live in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution of the mid 1960s, reduced to toiling in fields and sleeping in a flea-infested cave in China’s hardscrabble central province of Shaanxi. His father was repeatedly purged by the Communist Party’s patriarch Mao Zedong,” the Time continues.
Meanwhile, his trademark ideology of the “Chinese Dream” and “great revival of the Chinese nation” has drawn uneasy comparisons with Mao-era sloganeering. This perfectly echoes characteristics of a resolved political leader who wants to uncontestedly tighten grip on power.
After Trump’s coming to power in 2017, the China-US trade war intensified. This should be put down to the Beijing’s successful economic policies under XI who has triumphantly managed to challenge the US global domination. The shrinking American hegemony has set off alarm bells for the US national security circles and pushed them to adopt a confrontational policy to curb China’s expansionism in East Asia. Under the conditions, continuation of rule of Xi Jinping will mean increasing West-China tensions in the future.
