TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ China is set to scrap the two-term limit for the presidency and vice-presidency on Sunday, giving Xi Jinping the licence to rule the country for life. With China’s largely ceremonial parliament stamping the proposal by the Communist Party, the Middle Kingdom could well be headed for a one-man rule.
Fearing the repeat of excesses of power if anyone again was allowed to rule China indefinitely like Mao Zedong, country’s revered leader Deng Xiaoping slashed the term limit for President and vice-president to two — 10 years.
It is the same restriction, which nearly 3,000 lawmakers — called deputies of the National People’s Congress — will lift when they vote on Sunday to amend the country’s Constitution in a highly choreographed fashion. Never has China’s parliament said no to a diktat by the Communist Party, the country’s real boss. The Party is above all.
But it would be interesting to see how many vote against the proposed amendment. Xi, who came to power in 2013, has emerged as the most powerful leader in China after Mao. He is the General Secretary of the Communist Party and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission — the top nodal body of the Chinese army.
Although the post of General Secretary is more powerful than that of the President in China, the latter is used to deal with the outside world. Mao set up the President’s office in 1954 and quit the post after five years, giving it to Liu Shaoqi, handpicked by him. Liu was a puppet President and fell out of favour during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.
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