It was under Deng Ziaoping's leadership that the Chinese constitution was amended to limit the president's terms to two. But, now, this is about to change.
Inspired, no doubt, by Xi Jinping, the top decision-making body of the Communist Party last week recommended that the two-term limit on president be removed. Endorsement of the same by the parliament at its next meeting is a mere formality. Which means that Xi could be president for life.
Signs of consolidation of power by Xi were aplenty already. In the name of fighting corruption, he marginalised all potential challengers in the politburo. At the last party conference, he had his ‘Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese characters in the New Era' enshrined in the constitution, an honour hitherto reserved only for Mao.
He was also named a Core Leader, a nomenclature given only to Mao and Deng before him. In short, Xi is here to stay, though, technically, you could argue that his second term is set to end only 2023 and, therefore, it is quite likely he may not benefit from the proposed constitutional amendment.
The timing of the president-for-life move is significant. China has reached a tipping point in military and economic terms, beginning to flex its muscle in various international forums and menacing its neighbours and near-neighbours.
Its aggressive stance in South and South-East Asia is particularly worrisome for India. The signature Xi project, Belt and Road, barely hides China's expansionist ambitions. As a rising global power, it is now confronting the US on many fronts, and thumbing its nose at the established global order by colonising the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
Ironically, it seeks to grab the good global cop badge from the US, trying to supplant it in protecting environment, defending the Paris Climate Accord even as Trump seeks to pull out of it, and railing against creeping protectionism. In short, it fancies itself as a global superpower.
Collective and consensual decision-making by the politburo has yielded to the rule of the cabal surrounding Xi. He wears three hats simultaneously, as that of the head of the Chinese Communist Party, as the supreme leader of the Chinese armed forces and as the head of the Chinese Republic.
Absolute power carries within it the seeds of self-destruction. Hubris infects absolute leaders sooner than later. But in the immediate, the world at large, and India in particular, has to come to terms with Emperor Xi.
His iron grip on the levers of power is not good for the advance of democratic rights of the Chinese people. Domestic audiences are often sought to be serenaded by dictators by menacing their neighbours. That needs to be noted globally.
