BEIJING – China’s ruling Communist Party has proposed removing a limit oftwo consecutive terms for the country’s president, the official news agencysaid Sunday, appearing to lay the groundwork for party leader Xi Jinping torule as president beyond 2023.
The party’s Central Committee proposed to remove from the constitution theexpression that China’s president and vice president “shall serve no morethan two consecutive terms,” the Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report.It provided no further details.
The announcement came before the Central Committee was to begin a three-daymeeting in Beijing on Monday to discuss major personnel appointments andother issues.
Xi’s status as the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation wascemented at last year’s party congress, where he was given a secondfive-year term as general secretary.
Ahead of the party congress, Xi had been shoring up his authority andsidelining rivals, leaving him primed to press his agenda of tightenedstate control and muscular diplomacy. That included a push to insert histhoughts on theoretical matters into the party constitution and furthercultivate a burgeoning cult of personality that could allow him to hold onto power beyond his second term.
The son of a famed communist elder, Xi rose through the ranks to theposition of Shanghai’s party leader before being promoted to theall-powerful Politburo Standing Committee in 2007.
When Xi did assume the top spot in 2012, it was as head of a reducedseven-member committee on which he had only one reliable ally, veteran WangQishan. He put Wang in charge of a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown thathelped Xi eliminate challengers, both serving and retired, and cowpotential opponents.
Xi, whose titles include head of the armed forces, has lavished attentionon the military with parades and defense budget increases. But he’s alsoled a crackdown on abuses and a push to cut 300,000 personnel from the 2.3million-member People’s Liberation Army, underscoring his ability toprevail against entrenched interests.
At the same time, Xi has added to his resume additional titles as leader ofmore than a half dozen special commissions overseeing areas from nationalsecurity to foreign policy.
In a move carrying enormous symbolic weight, Xi last year took on themantle of “core” of the party leadership, elevating him above his peers ina manner redolent of communist China’s founder, Mao Zedong. – Agencies