Xi Jinping was seen as just an interim figure when he took control over the China’s most important leadership positions in 2012, becoming the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and President of the People’s Republic of China. But it soon became clear that the now 64-year-old had been widely underestimated.
Since Sunday it is evident that his political ambitions go beyond what the country’s constitution currently envisions. China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported that constitutional amendments are planned for when the country’s National Congress – widely considered a sham parliament – next convenes.
In addition to other tame party platitudes declaring the socialist system “great,” “modern” and “beautiful” hides another constitutional change with explosive political ramifications. Xinhua stated that: “The Communist Party of China Central Committee 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.” That the National Congress will most likely adopt the proposed changes almost goes without saying; after all, it has never rejected any motions by China’s leadership.
Ignoring past lessons
By undertaking these changes, China’s Communist Party is officially breaking with a long tradition regarding the orderly transfer of political power after a maximum of ten years. This practice was once introduced by Chinese reformer Deng Xiaoping, who had sought to prevent the abuse of power under Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China.
Zedong had enjoyed unlimited power and used it to catastrophic effect, launching the so-called “Great Leap Forward,” which resulted in the biggest man-made famine of all time. Zedong’s “Cultural Revolution” produced a similar disaster. Granted, a gargantuan image of Mao still adorns the entrance to the Forbidden City palace complex in central Beijing. But the legacy of his reign left wounds so deep that there is an official assessment of his deeds: “70 percent good, 30 percent bad.”
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