by WorldTribune Staff, February 25, 2018
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has proposed ending term limits for the offices of president and vice president.
In a move that would cement President Xi Jinping’s rule beyond a second five-year term, state-run Xinhua News Agency said that the Central Committee on Feb. 25 proposed to remove from China’s constitution the mandate that the president and vice president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms.”
The 64-year-old Xi was approved to begin his second five-year term late last year. Xi will be formally elected to his second term at the annual meeting of the rubber-stamp parliament, which opens March 5.
China’s constitution, first adopted in 1982, has not been amended since 2004.
Related: Silenced: U.S. social media giants bow to China’s Xi Jinping, Oct. 26, 2017
Xi last year assumed the title of “core” of the CCP’s leadership, elevating him above to a position reminiscent of communist China’s founder, Mao Zedong.
Related: China’s Xi Jinping moves national police under PLA control, Dec. 28, 2017
Xi has also been at the helm of a crackdown on corruption that analysts say was aimed at eliminating his rivals.
“I interpret this piece of news as evidence that the CCP is weaker and more vulnerable than thought, not strong and stable,” tweeted Lyle Morris, an analyst at the Rand Corp.
“A party that allows a leader through cult and power of personality to re-write the rules of succession is not a political party confident in itself.”
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