Jumel G. Estrañero |
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shocked many observers by proposing a constitutional amendment to end the two-term limit for the president, giving Xi a clear path to rule the world’s second largest economy for life. In line with this, China’s propaganda machine kicked into overdrive on 25 February (Sunday) to defend the Communist Party’s move to lift term limits for President Xi Jinping as criticism persisted on social media in defiance of censorship.
From the previous years, we have seen Xi’s good remarks and gestures with the international community. Hence, the CCP and Politburo Committee will vouch for Xi’s prominence and eminence as the premier of China’s global expansion. I believe that with populism in China, the Central Committee’s proposed amendment is expected to be approved during the legislative session and would allow Xi to stay in power beyond 2023. It has been necessitated by the need to perfect the Party and the State leadership system.
Furthermore, China Daily said the party has always proposed amendments that “have injected new ideas and concepts about where the country will go and how it will achieve its goal of rejuvenation and ensure people live happier lives”. It was supported by the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, that was even more profuse in its praise of the amendment in an editorial titled “Constitution change responds to new era”.
Siuagan, “if China moves in an authoritarian direction (if that is his intent) [it] will harden the divisions that have emerged between it and the major western powers”. She was pointing to heightened international tensions over security and economic policy in the coming years.
Since Xi took power as party chief in 2012, it wrote, “The new ruling team has not just been muddling along under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping. Instead, it quickly started to deepen reforms in a comprehensive and magnificent way”. Without fear, the newspaper took a shot at the political system of the United States and Europe. It says, “China cannot stop and take a break… Our country must not be disturbed by the outside world or lose our confidence as the West grows increasingly vigilant toward China.”
In general, what China is trying to instill in modern Chinese political and technological era is that it has shaped and affected quite a few Chinese people’s mind-sets. But some key parts of the Western value system are collapsing. Democracy, which has been explored and practiced by Western societies for hundreds of years, is ulcerating.
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Subsequently, their state-run media has been supporting this by proliferation (a good psychological operation or PSYOPS of the mass). One critic said: “So pathetic, we have 1.3 billion people, no one can resist.” Another commented on the lack of political reform: “I once believed that I could see a president elected by one man, one vote in my lifetime.”
What is interesting here is the power of social media which is highlighted by blocked negative commentaries since censors have scrambled and blocked critical comments on social media. However, users of the Twitter-like Weibo website continued to speak out on Tuesday, two days after the party’s announcement. In fact, censors blocked searches for the phrases “I object”, “proclaimed king”, “tenure system” and “Winnie the Pooh” — the cartoon bear to which Xi has been compared.
The Central Committee’s proposed amendment is expected to be approved during the legislative session and would allow Xi to stay in power beyond 2023. It has been necessitated by the need to perfect the Party and the State leadership system.
Another political controversy here is that Xi is expected to secure a second five-year term when the rubber-stamp National People’s Congress opens its annual plenary session. In the worst-case scenario, according to A Defense Analyst/Researcher Maria Kristina D. Siuagan, “if China moves in an authoritarian direction (if that is his intent) [it] will harden the divisions that have emerged between it and the major western powers”. She was pointing to heightened international tensions over security and economic policy in the coming years.
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At a greater extent, every policy has its own intent. I believe that China has its own idea of its strategic direction. But based on the China’s history, if this will be true and implemented, then China will be more worried about its internal enemies rather than external enemies. It is not that there are no other power hungry leaders in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanting to become powerful.
Once this leader removes the cap, his replacement who comes up after he dies may turn out to be the worst enemy of his descendants. This means the demise of CCP has started. This is same with (Communist Part of the Philippines) CPP and New People’s Army (NPA) in the Philippines; a very communistic group suffering from an internal demise.