ISAS Briefs

The decision of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to remove the two-term limit on the country’s presidency is inviting a great deal of commentary, particularly in the West. Most of it is negative. It needs to be recognised that the constitutional limit applies only to the office of the president. It does not cover the secretary generalship of the CPC or the chairmanship of the Military Commission. In fact, these two positions are the source of real power in China. It was only after the end of the Deng Xiaoping era that the three offices were combined and given to one man. Jiang Zemin was the first person to hold the three positions from 1993 to 2003, followed by Hu Jintao from 2003 to 2013. Xi Jinping is the third incumbent. That said, the move to remove the limit on the tenure of the president is of global significance.