2/27/2018 ‘Emperor Xi’? — China gambles on return to lifetime rule - Newspaper - DAWN.

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‘Emperor Xi’? — China gambles on return to lifetime rule

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2/27/2018 ‘Emperor Xi’? — China gambles on return to lifetime rule - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

A WOMAN walks past a poster of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday.—AFP

BEIJING: China’s Communist Party has handed President Xi Jinping an open

path to indefinite rule — a move analysts warn carries enormous risks by
abandoning a succession model that brought stability after turbulent decades
under Mao.

Xi, who has concentrated power, accumulated titles and purged potential rivals
since becoming head of state in 2013, could remain president for life after the
party proposed abolishing a rule limiting the top leader to two five-year terms.

But giving all the levers of power to one man could further erode human rights,
unsettle other nations and even set up traps for Xi’s rule at home, analysts warn.

“The two-term limit was supposed to increase stability. By ruling beyond the
standard 10-year tenure, Xi will be subject to much closer scrutiny by Chinese
citizens and the political elite,” said Simone van Nieuwenhuizen, Sydney-based
co-author of China and the New Maoists.

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The announcement made abruptly on Sunday further chips away at the era of
“collective” leadership that was championed by reform leader Deng Xiaoping to
prevent the return of another Mao-like cult figure.

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2/27/2018 ‘Emperor Xi’? — China gambles on return to lifetime rule - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

Xi’s two predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, both served two five-year
terms, providing a smooth succession that accompanied China’s rise to become
the world’s second-largest economy.

But Xi, 64, has adopted Mao’s playbook, tightening his grip with a relentless
crackdown on civil society and corruption, enshrining his name in the party
constitution and building his own personality cult.

Remaining in power beyond 2023 gives Xi a chance to push through his vision of
a rejuvenated China with global clout, a prosperous society, a revived Silk Road
trade route and a powerful military.

China’s rubber-stamp legislature is expected to give Xi his second term and

remove the 10-year limit at its annual meeting opening on March 5.

“Term limits were a crucial part of the institutionalisation of the leadership

transition, something that has plagued Communist parties leading to both
tyrannical reigns and catastrophic party decline,” said Jonathan Sullivan, director
of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University.

The rule enabled smooth transitions and preserved party unity, he said. “The
removal of term limits is a rejection of all this and it comes with real risks for
stability in the long term.”

Great leap backwards?

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2/27/2018 ‘Emperor Xi’? — China gambles on return to lifetime rule - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

Xi provided a major hint that he intended to stay in power when no heir apparent
was anointed at the five-yearly party congress in October.

The state-run Global Times tabloid said the Central Committee’s proposed
amendment to lift term limits would “improve” leadership.

“From the anti-corruption campaign to comprehensively advancing the rule of

law to profound economic restructuring, the CPC Central Committee with Xi at
the core has sturdily opened a new era for a hopeful China,” the daily said in an
editorial.

Sam Crane, a Chinese history expert at Williams College in the US, expressed
scepticism about reforms.

“I strongly doubt he will use his political power to force economic reform because
that would require empowering non-party economic agents,” Crane said. “His
chief focus I suspect will be further repression of civil society, a continuation of
his political orientation since 2012.”

Susan Shirk, chairwoman of the 21st Century China Centre at the University of
California in San Diego, said there are “acute” risks.

“One is the risk of making bad decisions while surrounded by sycophants,” Shirk
said. “One of the bad decisions is to control information and to control civil
society to an extreme extent that the Chinese talent and the middle class
ultimately will find incompatible with their ambitions for their children.”

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‘Elite rebellion’

On Twitter, Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, who has been fighting off jail terms
over his role in pro-democracy protests, declared “the era of Emperor Xi”.

Some people on China’s Twitter-like Weibo website said they were “witnessing
history” but others were critical, with one commenter saying “now I really feel like
I’m living in North Korea”.

Censors quickly struck down unfavourable comments and blocked users from
reposting an image of Winnie the Pooh hugging a giant jar of honey and the
message “Find the thing you love and stick with it” — Xi has been compared to the
portly cartoon bear.

On the diplomatic front, Shirk said Xi could get bad advice at a time when China
is asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea, which
several Asian nations contest.

“It’s a risk because of China’s international overreaching, more aggressive actions

in the South China Sea or handling crises in a way that’s immoderate,” she said.

Xi’s concentration of power could also face opposition within the party, which has
seen a relentless crackdown on corruption that has punished more than a million
officials.

“The other risk is some form of elite rebellion because it puts all the other

‹ politicians at great risk. There’s no real power-sharing,” Shirk said.

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2/27/2018 ‘Emperor Xi’? — China gambles on return to lifetime rule - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2018

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