Xi Jinping is lined up to rule China for as long as he wants to after the Communist Party proposed scrapping the rule limiting the top leader to two, five-year terms. AFP photo
BEIJING: China’s Communist Party has handed President Xi Jinping an open path to indefinite rule — a move analysts warn carries enormous risks by abandoning a succession model that brought stability after turbulent decades under Mao.
Xi, who has concentrated power, accumulated titles and purged potential rivals since becoming head of state in 2013, could remain president for life after the party proposed abolishing a rule limiting the top leader to two five-year terms.
But giving all the levers of power to one man could further erode human rights, unsettle other nations and even set up traps for Xi’s rule at home, analysts warn.
“The two-term limit was supposed to increase stability. By ruling beyond the standard 10-year tenure, Xi will be subject to much closer scrutiny by Chinese citizens and the political elite,” said Simone van Nieuwenhuizen, Sydney-based co-author of “China and the New Maoists”.
The announcement made abruptly on Sunday further chips away at the era of “collective” leadership that was championed by reform leader Deng Xiaoping to prevent the return of another Mao-like cult figure.
Xi’s two predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, both served two five-year terms, providing a smooth succession that accompanied China’s rise to become the world’s second-largest economy.
But Xi, 64, has adopted Mao’s playbook, tightening his grip with a relentless crackdown on civil society and corruption, enshrining his name in the party constitution and building his own personality cult.
Remaining in power beyond 2023 gives Xi a chance to push through his vision of a rejuvenated China with global clout, a prosperous society, a revived Silk Road trade route and a powerful military.
China’s rubber-stamp legislature is expected to give Xi his second term and remove the 10-year limit at its annual meeting opening on March 5.
“Term limits were a crucial part of the institutionalisation of the leadership transition, something that has plagued Communist parties leading to both tyrannical reigns and catastrophic party decline,” said Jonathan Sullivan, director of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University.
The rule enabled smooth transitions and preserved party unity, he said.
“The removal of term limits is a rejection of all this and it comes with real risks for stability in the long term.”
– Great leap backwards? –
Xi provided a major hint that he intended to stay in power when no heir apparent was anointed at the five-yearly party congress in October.
The state-run Global Times tabloid said the Central Committee’s proposed amendment to lift term limits would “improve” leadership.
“From the anti-corruption campaign to comprehensively advancing the rule of law to profound economic restructuring, the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core has sturdily opened a new era for a hopeful China,” the daily said in an editorial. – AFP