China Steps Closer To Despotism As Xi Becomes Leader For Life
Time|March 12,2018

China Steps Closer To Despotism As Xi Becomes Leader For Life

Charlie Campbell
China Steps Closer To Despotism As Xi Becomes Leader For Life

THE STATEMENT WAS ONLY 36 words long, but it contained a bombshell that reverberated around the world on Feb. 24: China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) is abolishing the nation’s presidential term limit of two five-year periods.

This means President Xi Jinping can now rule the world’s most populous nation for as long as he desires, raising fears that the Asian superpower is lurching back to dictatorship. “This is a very significant move toward China transforming into a one-man system,” says Jude Blanchette, a Beijing-based researcher on Chinese politics for the Conference Board, a research firm. “It’s hard to overemphasize what a big deal this is for the future of China and the world.”

For 40 years, the CCP has cloaked the country’s autocratic rule in institutionalization: the party, and not a single person or family, holds the reins of power for the purported benefit of all 1.4 billion Chinese. Strict protocols such as age and term limits helped its legitimacy

This story is from the March 12,2018 edition of Time.

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This story is from the March 12,2018 edition of Time.

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