Xi Jinping - President of China for Life?

China's Communist Party sets stage for Xi

to remain in power

By Ben Hooper 

The Communist Party of China is suggesting abolishing presidential term limits, clearing the way for Chinese President Xi Jinping to remain in power for many years to come. File Photo by Xie Huanchi/UPI | License Photo

UPI -- The Communist Party of China has proposed ending presidential term limits, signaling President Xi Jinping plans to remain in power for years to come.

The state-run Xinhua news agency announced Sunday that the Central Committee of the Communist Party is suggesting constitutional amendments to be voted on by lawmakers when an annual legislative session convenes next month.

The proposals include plans to remove the clause in the constitution that limits presidents to serving for only two five-year terms.

Observers said the move signals President Xi Jinping, 64, intends to remain in power for many years after the end of his second term, which is due to end in 2023.

The Communist Party declared Xi as its greatest living theorist and appointed him to a second five-year term as head of the head party and took the unusual move of not identifying a likely successor, which was taken by many as an indication that Xi would seek to retain the presidency for more than two terms.

"I think this is without a doubt the clearest confirmation we've had yet that Xi Jinping plans to stay in power much longer than we thought," Jude Blanchette, a Beijing resident and political expert who works for company research body the Conference Board, told The New York Times of the Communist Party's latest announcement. "We should expect Xi Jinping to be the dominant political force in China for the next decade."

The move would enshrine Xi as China's longest-serving leader since Mao Zedong.

"Xi wants to be like Mao," a Chinese official involved in decision-making told The Wall Street Journal. "With Wang Qishan as vice president, Xi can just focus on big strategic issues as the nation's paramount leader and let Wang take care of all those foreign trips and other affairs."

The legislature is expected to pass the proposal after the session begins March 1.

"I don't see any reasonable challenges for him," Beijing-based political analyst Wu Qiang, told the Times. "He has removed any potential political competitors."

So getting rid of talented, capable people, Xi surrounds himself with incompetents. Consequently, he stands out even if he is unexceptional.

Vietnam Orders Execution of Former Oil Exec in Massive Corruption Purge

How to handle corruption the Vietnamese way

Former Petro Vietnam (PVN) chairman Nguyen Xuan Son (R) © Kham / Reuters

The former chairman of the state-run PetroVietnam has been handed a death sentence after being found guilty of embezzlement, intentionally breaking state rules on economic management and abusing his position and power.

Nguyen Xuan Son, who was arrested in 2015 by the previous administration of former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, maintains his innocence and will appeal the verdict.

In a mass trial of 51 senior officials and banking executives accused of graft and mismanagement which has resulted in losses of $69 million, the Communist Party of Vietnam has continued its massive crackdown on corruption within the country’s financial sector. 

This is the first time in years that the death penalty has been given to such a high-ranking official, however.

'Communist Party', 'crackdown on corruption', - why am I having trouble putting these two terms together?

Vietnam has one of the highest rates of executions in the world according to Amnesty international and has only recently replaced firing squads with lethal injections.

“According to a report of the Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security which became public in February 2017, 429 prisoners were executed between 6 August 2013 and 30 June 2016,” Amnesty wrote.

Following a power struggle within the communist party last year, which led to Dung’s ouster, authorities have engaged in a massive crackdown on corruption Reuters reports.

Son stood trial in his capacity as both the former chairman of the state-run oil company and as the former chief executive of Ocean Bank, which was bailed out and taken over by the Vietnamese central bank after it defaulted on debt repayments.

Another senior banking executive, Ha Van Tham, founder of Ocean Group and one Vietnam's wealthiest business people, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the mass trial.

"Tham and Son's behaviour is very serious, infringing on the management of state property and causing public grievances, which requires strict punishment," said judge Truong Viet Toan as cited by AFP.

Other executives involved in the mass trial handed 18-month suspended sentences to 22 years in prison Reuters reports.

The head of state-run shipping firm Vinashin was also sentenced to death following major financial losses in February. 

Vietnam is ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in Asia.