For nearly sixty years since it opened in 1959, the Great Hall of the People has been the public focus of Chinese politics, a monumental granite block that extends 1,200 feet along the west side of Tiananmen Square. It is where the country’s leaders appear in public to display their power: a platform for state banquets, receptions of foreign dignitaries, and symbolic political
The February 25 announcement that the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.) has proposed a constitutional amendment that would remove term limits on the office of the presidency is arguably the most significant Chinese political and legal development in almost three decades, or maybe even four. It is a clear indication that Xi Jinping intends to and, in all likelihood, will stay in
Last week, the Chinese National People’s Congress removed Presidential and Vice-Presidential term limits, effectively allowing current President (and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary) Xi Jinping to stay in power beyond the two terms that had been the norm in recent decades. How to understand this sudden change, surprising in its particular shape though not exactly at
One of the simplest and least useful ways to understand the future is to take exactly what’s happening today and project it forward, rigidly and predictably, into tomorrow. This view is more than just a form of mental inertia; it is a breed of historical determinism, denying the forces of uncertainty and human agency that actually shape change over time. Yet this view appears to have taken hold, with stunning speed, in many assessments of the dramatic political events underway in China today.
The latest example came in reaction to the deplorable decision to remove constitutional term limits on the presidency an action that has underscored yet again the years-long process of Xi Jinping’s centralization of power and his willingness to break with the fragile norms of post-Mao Chinese politics. It is a decision of great importance, and it is an unmistakable indication of his intention to keep power.