China’s president for life? Not Xi Jinping, a student of history

Deng Yuwen says even with the removal of presidential term limits, Xi is too mindful of the lessons of history and the need to win over public opinion to consider holding power till his death

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Xi Jinping’s grip on power will last as long as it is needed to get the job done, and no more. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Published: 5:00pm, 14 Mar 2018Updated: 6:26pm, 14 Mar 2018

Delegates to the National People’s Congress have overwhelmingly voted to pass a constitutional amendment to abolish the two-term limit imposed on China’s president, a controversial move that will allow the incumbent, Xi Jinping, to stay in power beyond 2023. The question is: will he become president for life? In other words, does the Communist Party want to make Xi a leader for life or just give him a longer term? China watchers are divided on this.

The government has kept its comments vague. When questioned by foreign media at a press briefing on March 4, parliamentary spokesman Zhang Yesui said only that the constitutional change would help to “strengthen and improve China’s leadership system”. The party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, was more elaborate. In one article on the significance on the constitutional revision, it made clear that party and state leaders were still expected to follow the rules on retirement. It even quoted from the party charter, which clearly states that “leading party cadres at all levels, whether elected through democratic procedure or appointed by a leading body, are not entitled to lifelong tenure”.

I believe that in scraping the term limits, Xi wants to centralise power so he can mobilise the government and people to work for the realisation of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. So Xi’s grip on power will last as long as it is needed to get the job done, and no more.

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It is unlikely he wants to hold on to power for life – for three reasons. One, to win support for the constitutional revision, Xi might have had to assure the other senior party leaders that he would not stay in power for life.