:xi

  • Lurker123 [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I believe this is referring to his third term as president. If Wikipedia is a good source, it looks like the Chinese constitution was amended in 2018 to get rid of the two term limit.

    His two predecessors (Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin) both appear to have served for only 10 years.

    • Diogenes_Barrel [love/loves]
      ·
      2 years ago

      its true but the emphasis on the specific office when other leaders have been in power longer, just shuffling offices or in different chairs. nevermind 'democratic' leaders serving terms just as long.

      shit, :margaret-thatcher: was in office as long

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      He's also overstaying the normal retirement age for party leadership of age 70, which honestly kinda worries me. In theory, he should be positioning a new generation of leaders to take up the torch. But a great deal of the Xi-Era has involved rooting out corruption and taming the bitter influence of western capitalism in the national bureaucracy.

      I understand the impulse not to let a bunch of Bo Xilai types replace you once you're gone and undo all the work you've done. But you can't live forever, man. I only hope this third term will establish enough of a dedicated cohort of ideological contemporaries to bridge the gap into the next decade.

    • geikei [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Both kinda sucked compared to Xi so its only right that he can serve longer

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I remember that. People were really pushing the "evil dictator" propaganda when that happened, but I kinda realized that nobody was offering a decent explanation for why an elected office should be subject to a term limit. If the people want you as their leader that should be more than enough of a mandate.

      Libs pearl clutching over Morales for the same reason sealed the deal for me. Term limits are antidemocratic.