On 5 March 2018, China held its first session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.
At this annual parliamentary congress, 2,980 delegates have greeted with enthusiasm the Communist party’s various proposals put forward at this year’s session.
One of such proposals was putting an end to presidential term limits, which received a strong endorsement from the delegates.
The clause limiting an individual to two presidential terms was a landmark constitutional amendment in 1982.
13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China (Photo: NPC)
A few facts need to be straightened out. There is currently no term limit for the party’s general secretary and the chairman of the Central Military Commission, the two most influential posts in the Chinese political system.
The presidency is a ceremonial post, holding much lesser weight than the two aforementioned positions from within the Chinese political structure. And President Xi Jinping was already declared “core leader” of the party last year, so he does not need the change to stay in power for life.
“We will resolutely safeguard General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core status and the authority of the party’s central committee and its centralized and unified leadership,” stated Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
The parliamentary session also proceeded to discuss various economic agendas including but not limited to the issue of Trump’s announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from, among others, China.
13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China (Photo: NPC)
Prime Minister Li Keqiang retorted with a simple statement that China will continue to promote the globalization of the free market economy and thereby safeguard free trade.
The prime minister said, “We are ready to work with all relevant parties to advance multilateral trade negotiations and will work to soon conclude negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.”
He also said China would also “speed up efforts to build the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific and the East Asian Economic Community.”
Under Xi’s leadership, China has gone through a purge of corrupt officials in the last five years. There was first a house-cleaning within the military, then from the very top to bottom, the party ranks followed, and more recently, business figures of both state-owned and private companies with ties to corrupt officials.
Xi and his officials at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) have shaken up the whole country with the anti-corruption campaign.
The need for a clean-up was very obvious that many leaders before Xi had talked about the problem, but no one was able to effectively deal with the issue. But a lot of change has come with Xi assuming the country’s highest office.
By MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
