In a recent article I stumbled upon earlier by Foreign Policy, the author, Willy Lam, wrote about the emerging trends of party leader Xi Jinping who appears to be pushing to extend his presidency. In the article the author points out that Jinping is pushing to stay in power longer than the allotted ten year term. His term as General Secretary is set to expire in 2022; however, according to several sources he is trying to stay in power until 2027. The article says that Xi could retire from the presidency and the general secretary but still remain as the chairman of the party. Within one year of gaining power Xi established national security and reform for corruption committees which control a large amount of power. Lam seems to think that these sources of power leave Xi strong enough to maintain his command over the party even if he does give up his seats.
I feel that the case of Xi keeping his power without opposition is very unlikely. While his creation of the two committees has led to a lot of increased power for the party chairman, the power still remains with the people, especially those in the party. Xi would most likely face a large amount of opposition to maintaining power, and although Lam mentions these causes in his article, I still believe his opinion is too farsighted. He mentions that Xi has failed to begin grooming a replacement because Xi isn’t planning on being replaced. I think that being so early on in the term is the reason. In America, this would be like the President looking for a replacement months after being elected. Xi is most likely looking to expand his power, but I believe it is too early to say that he is trying to stay in office until 2027.
As for the informants who said he is trying to stay in office, speculation without evidence is nothing. I do not doubt that Xi is looking to centralize his authority and strengthen his abilities, and he probably has looked into the opportunity to maintain his position of power, but I feel its way too early to make these accusations without clear evidence. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years, especially with the anti-corruption committee having such a strong prevalence in Chinese politics.
Article: https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/01/xi-jinping-forever-china-president-term-limits/
Picture taken from article as well, credits to Feng Li/ Gettysimage
HR: Article
-Jonathan Hald