According to the new proposals from the ruling Communist Party of China, it is working at making amendments to the Constitution and abolish the term limits for the country’s president. The incumbent President of China who is clearly seen sweeping his way to the second term to the national leader in next month, is looking at ruling the country beyond the limited terms.
The party’s Central Committee has proposed to remove the expression “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms,” imposed upon the national heads who would hold the President and Vice-President’s post. Many suggest this move as an effort to reinforce the position of incumbent president Xi Jingping to rule beyond his second term after 2023.
While Xi has centralized the political authority of China under his control during his current tenure, proposing a ‘new era’ under his leadership at the last year’s twice a decade party congress, claiming that the need to abolish the life-time ruling by office holders to realize his visions however insults the Chinese demographics at large, suggesting there is no replacement for Xi in the billion plus population.
The move from the party however attracted criticism from pro-democracy activists, drawing comparisons to North Korea’s ruling dynasty and charges of creating a dictator. However, China immediately censored such articles criticizing the government and issued propaganda pieces praising Xi Jingping.
“This move, which would allow for a single individual to amass and accumulate political power, means that China would again have a dictator as her head of state – Xi Jinping,” said Joshua Wong, a pro-democracy activist in Hongkong, “The law may exist in China in form, but this just proves that the Chinese law exists to serve the individual and the party’s purposes.”