By Haya Wakil
The governing Communist Party of China has announced an amendment to the constitution on 25th February 2018 which might lead China to a one-man rule. The announcement was the removal of a clause that restricted the term of the President to two for five years each. The current limit which applied both to the President and Vice President may soon be scrapped if passed by China’s Parliament. This is considered to be one of the boldest steps by Xi Jinping till now, in an effort to strengthen his control over the fast-moving Chinese society and the party specifically. His only agenda is to make China a superpower under his own leadership.
Xi Jinping: The face of China
Xi Jinping currently serves as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission without any term limit. The 19th Party Congress which was held in 2017, elevated President Xi’s position in the Party Constitution. In his first term, Xi has taken down senior leaders in his anti-corruption drive to remove his political rivals, launched an unprecedented crackdown on free speech and overhauled the People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest fighting force. The Party Congress also has approved to include “Xi Jinping Thought of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era”. Hence, he joins Mao Zedong (founder of People’s Republic of China in 1949) and Deng Xiaoping as the only leaders to have their official ‘Thought’ enshrined in the Party’s Constitution.
Some political analysts had predicted that maybe Xi is looking to increase his term beyond 2022. With this announcement, the prediction seems correct. The proposal has to be approved by the National People’s Congress who is expected to have a session on 5th March after the Chinese New Year. The agenda of this session is to approve Xi’s 2nd term and also a series of constitutional changes recommended by the Central Committee.
The restriction on two terms of President emerged under Deng Xiaoping in the 1990s who did not want the events which happened in Mao’s era to repeat. Xi‘s predecessor duly followed the two-term rule.
Vision for China’s future
The Communist Party of China has dominated Chinese politics since its founding as a Republic in 1949 but the top leader was replaced only after 10 years. Xi’s earlier actions had shown the desire to achieve full control over the party and country. His huge long-term national projects are another indication of his will to stay a bit longer than usual. He has pressed China’s claim on the South China Sea, the One Belt One Road initiative to build new global trade routes and plans to erase poverty by 2020 in China. He also declined to name his successor thus diverging from the usual norm. The members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s supreme political body who were elected after the 19th Party Congress have no members who could take over after Xi’s second term.
Xi is aiming at installing his loyalists in major financial and other institutions of the country. The Politburo member meeting concluded that the current state structure was not competent enough to undertake ambitious projects and hence these obstacles should be resolved. In order to tackle financial risks in the increasingly globalized world, a change in financial regulatory system has been suggested essentially. Xi also wants to focus on Financial Stability Development that was created last year to improve China’s financial sector.
With absolute authority comes absolute blame in the instance of any economic or financial crisis. Although the Chinese state is not superficially democratic, there were certain checks and balances within the Party system itself.
India- China although ambiguous might be more assertive from the Chinese side with Doklam issue on one hand and the South China Sea on the other. Under Xi, China has also taken a tough stand on Taiwan.
The masses react
Soon after this announcement some of them resorted to Twitter to voice their opinion. Some articles were blocked whereas pro-amendment articles were published. Many raised the concern of following their neighbour North Korea on Weibo, China’s top microblogging site, but soon these comments were put down. Certain keywords were also banned. Even the Chinese Foreign Ministry tried to convince people that it is for the benefit of the country and since its formation, the constitution has been changing for good only.
The Global Times which is run by the state assured in an editorial that the change did not mean the president will stay in office forever, although not much explanation was provided. The party’s official People’s Daily reprinted an article by Xinhua news agency, voicing the support of the people. Widespread censorship was carried out on various social media platform like the one on WeChat where the comment section was disabled.
Few Chinese territories didn’t take this lightly and have resorted to pro-democracy protest. But some Chinese prefer continuity in leadership so that policies are better implemented and there is a long-term vision.
“Xi Jinping will certainly continue,” said Zhang Ming, a retired historian at Renmin University in Beijing. “In China, he can do what he wants to do, and this is just sending a clearer signal of that.” (As reported in the New York Times). Others have suggested that he could have easily stepped down and run the country behind the scenes.
With a shift to authoritarianism, the already divided relations might tend to get deeper. For now, Xi knows that he is prepared to lead China until his death and then will begin the ‘Xi era’ in Chinese history which will affect international relations worldwide.
Featured Image Source: Flickr
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