In China, Xi Jinping to continue as President for Life as Chinese parliament passes constitutional amendment

Beijing: The path has been cleared for Xi Jinping to continue as the Chinese President till the end of his life. The Parliament dominated by the ruling Communist Party has removed the provision limiting the President to two terms in office. Before this, Mao-Tse-Tung, the founder of the Communist Party was the President of China till his death.

In the Parliament session held on Sunday, all the 2,964 members, barring five, voted in favour of electing Jinping as the ‘President for Life’. Three members were absent and two have reportedly voted against. With this amendment, Jinping will continue to be the Chinese President even after the expiry of his current term in 2023. This Chinese decision will have major effects on the international politics, is believed.

Jinping accepted the responsibility as the Chief of the Communist Party and the President in the year 2012. Since then he has consistently made moves to strengthen his hold on the party and the country. Jinping started an aggressive campaign against corruption under the pretext that corruption is rampant in the party and various national departments. In reality, he used this campaign to side line the intra-party opposition and the leaders who could pose a challenge in the future.

Jinping indicated that he was moving towards becoming a supreme leader of the country with his decision to declare himself as the ‘Core Leader’. After this, Jinping made his image in the party and the country through actions like acquiring a status equivalent to the founder of the Communist Party, Mao-Tse-Tung and including his opinions and thoughts in the Communist Party ideology. Following Mao-Tse-Tung’s footsteps, a campaign to ’Replace images of Christ with Chinese President Jinping’ was undertaken.

Jinping’s unlimited leadership proposal was first discussed in a meeting held in the month of September last year. Jinping himself had presided over the meeting. Subsequently, in the month of October, Xi Jinping broke the tradition for declaration of the successor in the Communist Party meeting. These were the indications that Jinping was already treading the path towards monopolistic rule.

It was revealed by the Chinese government media only last month that a proposal for retaining Jinping as a President for an unlimited period, is being prepared. A few analysts and scholars had criticised this proposal.

The founder of the Communist Party, ‘Mao’ was heading the party as well as the country till his death. After this, Deng Xiaoping got the provision for allowing the President to hold the post only for 10 years, with an intention to correct the mistakes during the ‘Mao’ rule. But Jinping seems to have fulfilled his ambition to be at the helm for an unlimited period, discarding the provision.