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Minxin Pei on the Rise of Emperor Xi

Podcasts Apr 10, 2018 Minxin Pei

In March, China’s National People’s Congress rubber-stamped the elimination of presidential term limits, clearing the way for President Xi Jinping to lead for life. Sinologist Minxin Pei says while the move will centralize the Communist Party’s authority, the president’s strongman tactics could come back to haunt him.

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Godfree Roberts Apr 10, 2018

Minxin Pei perhaps deliberately, misunderstands the nature of Chinese governance and the titles that Mr. Xi holds.

The title of 'President' is of largely symbolic value and confers little power (unlike the American President, whose title empowers him to kidnap, torture and assassinate enemies and, singlehandedly, to take the country to war). Mr. Xi's significant positions, Party Secretary and Chairman of the Military Commission (he was Assistant to the Secretary of Defense at 23, btw) are positions of power and carry no term limits.

The removal of term limits harmonizes the constitution of Ptate and Party. It removes the screen between the real executive powers and the figurehead positions. It will improve transparency and shine a light on (and hopefully reduce) backroom patronage that was so prevalent under Jiang. In other words, it strengthens the idea that the party is the state, which has been the objective of the CPC for a long time.

What you should really be asking is what does the creation of the NSC portend? The institutionalisation of the anti-corruption movement Xi started will reduce the likelihood of returning to the secretive, opaque corrupting power system of the past. If anything, these amendments strengthen the bonds between the CPC and China, and opens the CPC to more transparent public scrutiny–and transparency was Xi's hallmark throughout his early career.

The current amendments to the Constitution simply bring all three titles into alignment and confer no more power than Xi had when he was elected.

Other countries have unlimited terms for their top leaders: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in his fourth term and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been in office for more than 12 years. No one in the West has ever criticized these countries’ unlimited terms of leadership because of this.

China has term limits for the same reason America does: both countries' elites found that their most capable leaders–Roosevelt and Mao–were too sympathetic to ordinary citizens, who returned their affections.

In truth, power flows to the most capable, everywhere. Henry Kissinger made the title “national security adviser” powerful. Before him, the title just denoted somebody collecting news clippings and intelligence memos. Mao was never the General Secretary of the CCP but could have this title-holder for breakfast. Deng was never the President, nor the General Secretary of the CCP, and yet he was still directing China’s affairs after his own retirement.

The country wants Xi to finish what he started, because they are his vision and are all immense in scope and consequence:

The BRI (Belt and Road Initiative)
The SCO, the world's largest security alliance
Poverty reduction, especially in the interior regions
Ongoing economic transition to become more consumption and innovation driven
Corporate debt control and financial reforms
Reunification with Taiwan
War against pollution
GINI repair, which he has scheduled for 2020-20135
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