China To Change Constitution, Allowing Xi To Stay In Power Forever

in china •  7 years ago 

Content adapted from this Zerohedge.com article : Source


China is about to name an emporer for life.

The Communist Party in China is about to do away with the two-term constitutional limit allowing President Xi Jinping to rule for life.

This is not a complete surprise since it follows the decision last Ocotober to omit naming a successor. The move by the Community Party will put Jonping's name on the consistitution, the first living leader to have that honory.

According to the NY Times, the constitution was amended last month although details were not released.

In another victory for Mr. Xi, the draft amendments to the Constitution would also add his trademark expression for his main ideas - "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" - into the preamble of the Constitution, as well as adding a nod to the ideological contributions of his predecessor, Mr. Hu.

The amendments are almost certain to be passed into law by the party-controlled legislature, the National People's Congress, which holds its annual full session from March 5. The congress has never voted down a proposal from party leaders.

This move will only make the power absolute for the already powerful leader. Any resistence to his rule is now gone. All will have to get on board with his agenda since there is no way of knowing how long his rule will last.

At the same party congress, Mr. Xi conspicuously broke with precedent by choosing not to name a pair of much younger officials to the Politburo's ruling inner circle, the seven-member standing committee, to serve as his heirs-in-waiting. Instead, Mr. Xi chose men — no women — who were closer to his own age or older.

Mr. Xi's strongman style has been compared to that of the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. But even Mr. Putin, who has amassed considerable personal power, did not try to erase his country's constitutional limit on serving more than two consecutive terms as president as he approached that limit in 2008.

Instead, he arranged for a close adviser with limited personal influence, Dmitri A. Medvedev, to serve as president for a single term while Mr. Putin held the post of prime minister. Mr. Putin then returned to the presidency in 2012, and is running this year for re-election to another term.

Mr. Xi may now have even greater power, and the question will be how he chooses to use it.

"Xi Jinping is susceptible to making big mistakes because there are now almost no checks or balances," said Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who is the author of a biography of Mr. Xi in 2015. "Essentially, he has become emperor for life."

It is good to be the King.

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  ·  7 years ago (edited)

It definately looks like China by changing the constitution which allows Xi to stay in power until his last breath is what they and people of China want. Why not, so far everything works just fine. We should expect Xi to be the leader of China’s political force for at least the next decade based on his health and age. As a matter of fact I just don’t see any reasonable challenges for him since he has already removed any potential political competitors. His taugh ways of socialism has proved to be working for Chinese citizens, even though they have their own problems such as poverty or pollution, but it’s different story we could write many pages about. I believe that once people know he will be the leade for who knows how long, it will strengthen his power and motivate everybody to stick with him while any competition will think he is almighty. Another issue could be the nuclear power, which is growing in China at staggering rate. We don't know what is going to happen with Iran, or North Korea and we can't be certain of the future in China when it come to nuclear weapons. Who are they willing to work with especially who is willing Mr.Xi to work with.
AF8519E7-F117-44A8-AB6F-DD90D1E7B6C6.gif

oh wow this is huge. xi jinping seems to be dead set on rebuilding china, but i'm not sure if removing the term limit is good for the long term prospects of the country...

Absolute power corrupts absolutely! Those in power will never learn. They feather there nest in the short term by supporting these types of things and then are shocked when the power is used against them. Sad day for any country when the top spot turns from election to king for life.

Mr. Xi may now have even greater power, and the question will be how he chooses to use it.

I’m sure this guy has a brain. People of China love this guy, his way of dictatorship is completely different than of other countries. So far it definately works and that’s why the Chinese goverment doesn’t want to make any changes. He builds the power and respect for China all over the world unlike US which is shrinking in power Day by Day. I would definately compare Putin and Mr.Xi with their similarities such as dictatorship, while citizens of each country have a respect and trust in these leaders. Not that I like their way of leading their countries, however it’s some kind on their way of democratic socialism, my number one of our country is democracy, even though sometimes it’s questionable. It is only matter of time when China surpasses the overall economy of any country in the world if not already. Your posts always brings new and fresh information before mainstream media change it in to propaganda.

@zer0hedge..bro China has been going full on fash for a while now. They can't afford any internal disruption at this juncture so it's iron clad internal control from now on. So much for the sleeping dragon. Xi's main threat now comes from his own party. Cause one thing that hasn't changed is everybody wants to be emperor.Somehow I saw this coming years ago, when someone was showing me these pictures of Xi going to very ordinary restaurants to make himself look like a normal person.

In Western history, there are plenty of examples of autocrats who first position themselves as "one of us" In medieval times people knew that the king's wars were his own business, and not the people's business. Nowadays, wars are total wars, and everyone is dragged into them..thank you for sharing with us..

Xi's book "Governance of China" reveals exactly what "... with Chinese Characteristics" means.

Marx's himself saw an "intermediate step" as essential on the long march from Capitalism to Marxism. This is Xi's sweet spot between Capitalism's Unplannable, Dangerous Freedom and Marxism's Grinding, Murderous Destitution. A simple, pre-approved doctrinal technicality within the 'true' Marxist construct. He goes out of his way to specifically state that it will be necessary to remain here a "very long time".

Current Chinese leadership have been around long enough to remember the bloody Cultural Revolution and can mentally conceive what repeating it would be like (as opposed to Collegiate American Marxists that are fully clueless to what this level of violence truly entails).

While there is much wrong with China, one has to admire Xi's (and two predecessor's) ability to understand, conceive, advocate and move the country from mass murder (by Mao's standard) to mass production while keeping the shell corporation of control intact.

that's what happens in authoritarian countries sooner or later

So it's going from communism to a dictatorship? This seems pretty concerning although I'm not too familiar with Chinese politics maybe they feel more secure with their traditions of the past. They are one of the longest standing civilizations still here today.

Where is this world heading with these contradictory decisions going on under it's nose. Xi Jinping is a good leader, I admit that.. and the people's love for him speaks for itself. But this is not how people are served. However good you are at the dance floor, you don't get to dance the whole day on it.
People need to be given chances to lead and govern the governments of their respective countries inorder to give the young generation hope of leading too. I honestly doubt that there is a young chinese out there who dreams of leading the country.

my opinion China has its own way in politics, they have high political of his ancestors.
as evidence in some countries ruled by the Chinese community, and in terms of their finances better know how to run it.
thanks @zer0hedge for update info

well post thanks for shareing.....
keep it up...

The Xi Jinping Thought has taken over for sure. China's Communism with Chinese characteristics still cracks me up.

China might be smart for a lot of things, but in politics they still have a long way to go.

Allowing something like this to take place will give extreme power to just a single individual, too risky in my opinion.

If there is one thing China could learn from the West, it’s a system with string institutions, and not necessarily strong and “supreme” leaders

Bagus

valuable post for me ...........................

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

@zer0hedge..... Outstanding article you shared. China is put on a significant leadership over the world. Their political leader (President Xi Jinping) is so quality full politician so far. I think he is one of the top leader not only Asia but also in the world. Is not it? Over populate country should follow them, how to transfer man to power. Thanks a lot for sharing.....

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Chinese President Xi Jinping is perhaps the most powerful leader China has seen since Communist leader Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China. Now Xi stands on the brink of becoming even stronger.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China kicked off on Wednesday — a hugely important political event in China in which the party meets for roughly a week once every five years to decide on its leadership and set national policy priorities.

By tradition, the party changes its head every 10 years. Xi began his first five-year term during the last congress, and the party will reappoint him for his second five-year term during this one.

The party will also assign people to top leadership positions in the tiers below him, most notably the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee. It’s a group, currently composed of seven people, who make up the most senior decision-making body in the Chinese Communist party. Its members have broad portfolios like running the economy or the country’s propaganda operations.

If Xi succeeds in getting his allies into many of those top leadership positions — and experts think there’s a good chance he will — he’ll have more control of the party and an enormous mandate to push his agenda for the country’s future.

The war chess is moving on, quite a smart move, they actually need a level head to move their agenda ahead...They want to be the production muscle of the world while masking Capitalism, most likely Xi is the figurehead behind a brutal cabal who's hand are in every country they can milk...From what I am seeing, most countries would be at the footsteps of China begging for bread in a couple years, China ambition to Trump the USA as global leader is quite clear, whether the world give in, is another question

I won't really agree with that and I know that the people of China won't allow him to rule forever. The actually reminds me on what's happening in Africa, where each president want to rule for life.
Let's look at this scenarios. Joseph kabisa, DR Congo president has refused to step down, neither to change the Constitution . His term ended in 2026 and has failed to change the Constitution .

In Uganda you'll fall on Museveni who is now 75 years old but has changed the Constitution and want to rule for some 14 years. So he'll be 89.

Paul kagame also the same, his is expected to end his 2 term in 2034. And I'm sure he'll change the Constitution again.

If we look at Kenya, the country has always been in just one tribe hands since 1960's . Now everyone in the kikuyu tribe is rich when 70% of the population are poor.

This is unfair and we the people should make sure that we try to prevent of not we shall be caring the burden of their unjustified decisions

Baidu searches for “migration” spiked after the news came out around that China is eliminating a two-term constitutional cap on presidential terms.
...
During his time as president, Xi has launched grandiose initiatives like the "One belt, one road" initiative to build a modern Silk Road that would cement China's position as a global hegemon to rival the US.

...Or as Ian Bremmer, founder and president of Eurasia Group, puts it...

There is only one positive side on having someone to stay In Power Forever.It avoids spending lots of money on new elections and the ruler won´t be worried in winning the votes instead of doing the best for his country.

Obviously this type of powers are historically a problematic way to rule. As we can see there are very few dictatorships in the world right now.