China's president Xi Jinping is now the new Chinese Emperor.
China is the largest dictatorship in the world, and in fact in history, but since the disastorus Mao years, which saw the whole country facing starvation, it was ruled by the Communist party and not by a single person, however this is about to change. China’s Communist Party has cleared the way for President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely, by announcing Sunday that it intends to abolish term limits on the presidency, a momentous break with decades-old rules meant to prevent the country from returning to the days when Mao was shown cultish obedience. The surprise move, revealed in a dryly worded proposal to amend the Constitution, is the boldest yet by Mr. Xi as he seeks to consolidate power over the Communist party, and to essentially became the new Chinese emperor, beholden to no one, and wielding absolute power, indefinitely. The ruling Communist Party on Sunday proposed to remove a constitutional clause limiting presidential service to just two terms in office, meaning Xi, who also heads the party and the military, might never have to retire.
The proposal, which will be passed by delegates loyal to the party at next month’s annual meeting of China’s largely rubber stamp parliament, is part of a package of amendments to the country’s constitution. It will also add Xi’s political thought to the constitution, already added to the party constitution last year, and set a legal framework for a super anti-corruption superbody, as well as more broadly strengthen the party’s tight grip on power. The timing of the announcement startled even experienced observers of Chinese politics: Mr. Xi completes his first term as president next month and could have waited until late in his second term to act. He also could have stepped down after his second term and run the country from behind the scenes, as some of his predecessors have. But it would appear that Xi Jinping has cast all caution and pretensions to the wind and is now decidedly on his way to become the new emperor of China, ruling directly and absolutely over almost 1.4 billion Chinese.
