CPC Pushing to Remove Two Term-Limit on XI
China’s ruling Communist Party has proposed removing a limit of two consecutive terms for the country’s president, the official news agency said Sunday, appearing to lay the groundwork for party leader Xi Jinping to rule as president beyond 2023.
China’s ruling Communist Party has proposed removing a limit of two consecutive terms for the country’s president, the official news agency said Sunday, appearing to lay the groundwork for party leader Xi Jinping to rule as president beyond 2023.
The party’s Central Committee proposed to remove from the constitution the expression that China’s president and vice president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms,” the Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report. It provided no further details.
Meanwhile, the Central Committee is due on Monday to hold a three-day “plenum”, attended by its 200 full members and 200 alternate members, to approve the leadership line-up for Xi’s second term.
China’s state constitution currently limits the president and vice-president to two terms of five years each.
Xi’s status as the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation was cemented at last year’s party congress, where he was given a second five-year term as general secretary.
Xi Jinping also led a crackdown on abuses and a push to cut 300,000 personnel from the 2.3 million-member People’s Liberation Army, underscoring his ability to prevail against entrenched interests.
Since taking power in 2012, Mr Xi has moved decisively to centralize power over China’s government bureaucracy and armed forces, with the help of a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign in which thousands of senior officials have been arrested or forced into early retirement.
