In China, fears of a 'super-president' with 'no limits on his power'

pulse

February 26, 2018 2:43 AM

Xi, who has been president since 2013, has tried to cultivate an image as a benevolent father figure who is working to promote China’s peaceful rise.

President Xi Jinping’s efforts to indefinitely extend his rule as China’s leader, announced on Sunday, raised fresh fears in China of a resurgence of strongman politics — and fears abroad of a new era of hostility and gridlock.

But the ruling Communist Party’s decision to amend China's Constitution and open a path to a third term for Xi heightened a sense of resentment in China among academics, lawyers, journalists and business executives. Many have watched warily as Xi has used his power to imprison scores of dissidents, stifle free speech and tighten oversight of the economy, the world’s second largest.

Wu Qiang, a political analyst in Beijing who is critical of Xi, said the change to the Constitution would turn Xi into a “super-president.”

“He will have no limits on his power,” he said.

Government censors rushed to block criticism of the decision. Internet memes depicted Xi as an emperor with no regard for the rule of law and showed a portrait of Xi replacing Mao’s hallowed image in Tiananmen Square. Another repurposed an ad for Durex condoms, adding a tag line — “Twice is not enough” — to poke fun at the idea of Xi angling for a third term.

The party’s move comes as Xi has proclaimed an era of China’s greatness, when the country, he says, will take what he see as its rightful place as a top global power. Already, it is establishing military bases in the Western Pacific and Africa, building infrastructure across Asia, parts of Europe and Africa, and running what Xi hopes will be the world’s No. 1 economy within two decades or sooner.

“China feels it is on the road to great power status and they want to perpetuate the trajectory they are on,” said David Finkelstein, director of China Studies at CNA, a research institute in Arlington, Virginia.

Some analysts outside China said they worried that allowing Xi one-man rule might worsen an increasingly tense relationship between the United States and China.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.