Last week China’s National People’s Congress approved to abolish presidential term limits, making it possible for President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely. Western political commentators, almost all unanimously critical of this move, cited this act as a nothing more than a backward leap in democracy and a u-turn on the increasingly liberal society that China has become after the opening up of the country in 1978. To many western journalists, Xi Jin-ping is now the new emperor, a 21st-century dictator, a Mao 2.0 who just “lusts for power”. While the West is generally critical of China, the overwhelming Chinese this was a non-headline new item, critical voices were few in far between. Many western Journalists dismissed this as nothing more than “Communist Censorship” and evidence of how the Chinese government suppress “freedom of speech.”
However, those familiar with what the President does would tell you that it is nothing more than a ceremonial job good for greeting other heads of states and to host lavish state dinners. Besides Xi Jinping how many ex-Chinese Presidents can people in the west name? Most westerners would have heard of Mao, some even have knowledge of Deng Xiao-ping, but probably no one except Oxbridge sinologists would know who Liu Shao-qi, Soong Ching-ling, Dong Bi-wu, Li Xian-nian and Yang Shang-kun were. In fact, these were all ex-President of the People’s Republic of China.
The job of President of China is as powerful or important as the post of President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Therefore extending the term limit of a ceremonial job is a meaningless gesture and does not affect the shift of power in any way. So who in China barks the loudest? The two jobs that wield the most clout are first the Chairmanship of the Central Military Commission (CMC) followed by the post of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Critically neither of these top jobs has any term limit. When Mrs Thatcher came to Beijing to negotiate over the future of Hong Kong in 1984, she met Deng Xiao-ping, the so-called “paramount leader” of China. At that time Deng held only two formal positions, one as the Chairman of the CMC and the other, a now abolished position, as the Chairman of the Advisory Commission of the Communist Party of China. In fact during the time which Deng “rules” over China he held no position in any of the offices of the State. Those who read my book Dragon’s Teeth will know that the People’s Liberation Army of China is in fact the military arm of the Communist Party rather than all of China itself. Remember, the full name of the CMC is the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China. So how important are offices of state in China, when the party itself is more important?
With no limits on the terms of offices, we actually create a situation where past Presidents can sometimes pull the strings to curtail the incumbent. This was the case when Hu Jin-tao, Xi’s predecessor, served two terms as President. During his first term as President, the key post of Chairman of the CMC was still occupied by Hu’s predecessor Jiang Ze-min. Without military power, Hu’s room for manoeuvre as the leader of China was weakened severely. After all, Mao did famously say: “political Power grew out of the barrel of the gun.”
The removal of the Presidential term limit actually helps to formalise the institutions of state and make the function of power in China more transparent. There will be no more backseat drivers like Jiang Ze-min meddling from behind the scenes. So when Xi’s time is up, he will give to the next person the absolute power of the state and party with no need to look over their shoulder.
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