Beijing: The Chinese communist party has in a major decision lifted the section of the constitution that limits President Xi Jinping from holding office for more than two terms. The move can formally place Xi in the same league as modern China’s founding father Mao Zedong who remained the supreme commander till the last day of his life.
The party has decided to remove a crucial section in the country’s constitution that limits a president from enjoying more than two terms of five years each. Xi is due to finish his second term in 2023. The limit was, in fact, intended to ensure there is no accumulation of power as was the case with Mao.
The Communist Party Central Committee, the political body of top leaders of the party, has “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,” it said. The move comes after the Communist Party decided to enshrine “Xi Jinping Thought” as one of its high ideals in the party constitution last year.
The move has wide implications for India because Xi has revamped the People’s Liberation Army and ordered extensive use of information technology and drones to achieve what he has often described as the “ability to win wars”. He has also launched the $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor with the purpose of connecting China to the Arabian Sea, which opens up a future naval challenge for India.
The Chinese president sent out a signal that he was unlikely to be satisfied with two terms when he broke away from past practice of anointing a successor while taking over as president and party general secretary for the second term in October last year. The new members of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, which runs the country, does not have anyone who could be regarded his successor.
Officials indicated that the party needed a “strong and stable leader” until the middle of the 21st century. “Especially in the period from 2020 to 2035, which is a crucial stage for China to basically realise socialist modernisation, China and the CPC need a stable, strong and consistent leadership.
The decision confirmed that Xi enjoys massive influence over the Communist Party to be able to rewrite one of the most crucial aspects of the Constitution.
