Is Xi Jinping now a âleader for life â like Mao? Hereâs why this is dangerous.
Xi Jinping
Chinese President  Xi Jinping  claps while addressing the media as  he  introduces new members of the Politburo Standing Committee at Beijingâs Great Hall of the People on Oct 25. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
Chinaâs constitution is set to drop the two-term limit for president  allowing  Xi Jinping  to extend  his  rule beyond 2023. Here are three things to know about Xiâs increasingly personal rule:
1.  Xi  has broken a decades-old norm of collective rule
Deng Xiaoping  the Chinese leader who spearheaded reform after Mao passed  spoke against personal rule in 1980: âOver-concentration of power is liable to give rise to arbitrary rule by individuals at the expense of collective leadership.â Most China watchers expected  Xi  to follow  his  predecessor Hu Jintaoâs example and rule for only 10 years  but now there is consensus that  Xi  will stay on after this period.
 [ Xi Jinping  just made  it  clear where Chinaâs foreign policy is headed ]
In China  Xi packed key government positions with  his  supporters while purging rivals.  He  also created significant new organizations  such as small leadership groups  that  he  controls to circumvent rival power centers. With these latest constitutional changes   he  has rigged the game in  his  favor  too. The Chinese Communist Party is a massive and powerful organization  but increasingly it is an institution ruled by just one man   Xi Jinping.
Beyond this  Xi has initiated a substantial anti-corruption campaign that has gone after tens of thousands of officials at all levels  including retired top leaders such as Zhou Yongkang. Some targets no doubt were  Xi  rivals  but there is good reason to believe that the Communist Partyâs pervasive corruption had become a major source of economic and political risk.
Even if  Xi  is interested in the party and the broader regime rather than  his  own aggrandizement  going after top-level retirees broke a norm of exemption. This makes it difficult for  Xi  to retire  as  he  could become a target given  his  familyâs wealth â despite their efforts to shed assets.
To be sure  the proposed constitutional revisions do not stop at allowing  Xi  a third term. They call for inclusion of a reference to âcore socialist values â a âpublic oath of allegiance to the constitutionâ for state officials upon assuming office  and for listing a supervision commission as a new state organ.
These changes are evidence that power is centralizing in Beijing â in addition to being concentrated in  Xi . Local government officials enjoyed relatively free rein for much of the post-Mao period as long as the economy grew and tax revenue came in. But the central government increasingly is investing in its monitoring capacity and offering a rhetoric of governing morally with a mix of Confucian and Communist Party virtues.
Chinese President   [TGT] claps while addressing the media as   [TGT]   introduces new members of the Politburo Standing Committee at Beijingâs Great Hall of the People on Oct 25. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
Chinaâs constitution is set to drop the two-term limit for president  allowing  Xi Jinping  to extend  his  rule beyond 2023. Here are three things to know about Xiâs increasingly personal rule:
1.  Xi  has broken a decades-old norm of collective rule
Deng Xiaoping  the Chinese leader who spearheaded reform after Mao passed  spoke against personal rule in 1980: âOver-concentration of power is liable to give rise to arbitrary rule by individuals at the expense of collective leadership.â Most China watchers expected  Xi  to follow  his  predecessor Hu Jintaoâs example and rule for only 10 years  but now there is consensus that  Xi  will stay on after this period.
 [ Xi Jinping  just made  it  clear where Chinaâs foreign policy is headed ]
In China  Xi packed key government positions with  his  supporters while purging rivals.  He  also created significant new organizations  such as small leadership groups  that  he  controls to circumvent rival power centers. With these latest constitutional changes   he  has rigged the game in  his  favor  too. The Chinese Communist Party is a massive and powerful organization  but increasingly it is an institution ruled by just one man   Xi Jinping.
Beyond this  Xi has initiated a substantial anti-corruption campaign that has gone after tens of thousands of officials at all levels  including retired top leaders such as Zhou Yongkang. Some targets no doubt were  Xi  rivals  but there is good reason to believe that the Communist Partyâs pervasive corruption had become a major source of economic and political risk.
Even if  Xi  is interested in the party and the broader regime rather than  his  own aggrandizement  going after top-level retirees broke a norm of exemption. This makes it difficult for  Xi  to retire  as  he  could become a target given  his  familyâs wealth â despite their efforts to shed assets.
To be sure  the proposed constitutional revisions do not stop at allowing  Xi  a third term. They call for inclusion of a reference to âcore socialist values â a âpublic oath of allegiance to the constitutionâ for state officials upon assuming office  and for listing a supervision commission as a new state organ.
These changes are evidence that power is centralizing in Beijing â in addition to being concentrated in  Xi . Local government officials enjoyed relatively free rein for much of the post-Mao period as long as the economy grew and tax revenue came in. But the central government increasingly is investing in its monitoring capacity and offering a rhetoric of governing morally with a mix of Confucian and Communist Party virtues.