The fundamental political shift in China, which was signalled in the Party Congress held last October, has all but arrived. President Xi Jinping's elevation to the status of Mao is almost complete as the party has revealed a plan to remove term limit to presidency. What has happened is the Communist equivalent of beatification. Of course with the expendable difference that it's a leader who is still alive.
This shocker has far-reaching implications -- for China and its economy, for Chinese communism and for the Asian giant's neighbours and the world at large.
The party released a terse communiqué that simply said the country's constitution will be changed. "The Communist party of China central committee proposed to remove the expression that the president and vice-president of the People's Republic of China 'shall serve no more than two consecutive terms' from the country's constitution."
Xi is on the road to becoming the second person after founder Mao Zedong in the history of the Republic to have amassed almost tyrannical powers. That's why parallels are drawn between what lies ahead for Xi's China and what had been Mao's. Mao's China was defined by movements like the Great Leap Forward and the great Chinese famine. According to journalist-writer Yang Jisheng, some 36 million people died in the famine that followed the Great Leap forward under Mao's watch. Another 40 million perished in the Cultural Revolution that topped off his eccentric rule.
Today's China won't have to live through any such mass extermination but Xi's elevation to a rarefied Communist pantheon means a lot of things. Above all else, it opens a new chapter in the story of the evolution of China's communist revolution.
People's democratic dictatorship
The post-Deng Xiaoping era in Chinese communism had created a semblance of pliancy in a historically rigid process of leadership selection. This and the already thriving market socialism had given the country a certain level of institutional trustworthiness. This goes out the window with the rise of Xi to the status of a despot.
The last party Congress had enshrined the 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics' into the constitution. This had raised the possibility of Xi becoming the next 'Chairman' after Mao.
On June 30, 1948, Mao used the term 'people's democratic dictatorship' in a speech commemorating the 28th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. The term 'democratic dictatorship' is prominently placed in the latest party communiqué that announced the change. "... the Chinese people of all nationalities will continue to adhere to the people's democratic dictatorship and the socialist road ..." the statement reads.
The last party Congress had enshrined the 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics' into the constitution. This had raised the possibility of Xi becoming the next 'Chairman' after Mao.
In the lexicon of Chinese Communism, a 'thought' is second only to the 'isms' created by Lenin and Marx. Mao's principles were treated as 'thought' while Deng's were labelled a lesser 'theory'. Here's how the party statement on Sunday goes on, on the pecking order: "According to the proposal on the Constitution revision, under the leadership of the CPC and the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era ..."
As Xi is slated to stay in power indefinitely, collective leadership in China will be totally overshadowed by concentration of power. It's almost like going back to the Mao era minus, hopefully, the trail of blood. In his time, Mao had to consolidate power through the 'barrel of a gun'. During Deng's age financial might was the feather on the cap for uppity comrades. When Xi took the reins of the party and the government in 2012, he launched a brutal anti-corruption drive that met the twin goals of locking up the corrupt and purging the enemies within.
With more power to Xi, China will strive to find traction in an uncharted terrain. Will Xi's 'thought' prove to be a potent force that bridges his promise and the reality? Without being unfair to Xi, it can be stated that Mao and Deng earned their badges the hard way. In Xi's case, he has all but presented the gold star to himself. In contemporary politics, it can be likened to the Nobel peace Prize awarded to US president Barack Obama in 2009. It was perhaps the first 'futuristic' Nobel prize - an award for a future achievement. (Of course Obama did not campaign for it, and he was gracefully apologetic about it, saying he was accepting it as a 'call to action'.)
Sycophantic inner core
If Xi hasn't earned his stripes the way Mao and Deng did, he has time and limitless authority in hand to prove that he's on par with the great leaders of the revolution. The Party says this means Xi will "steadily improve socialist institutions, develop the socialist market economy, develop socialist democracy, improve the socialist rule of law, apply a new vision of development and work hard and self-reliantly to modernize the country's industry, agriculture, national defence and science and technology step by step and promote the coordinated development of the material, political, cultural and ethical, social and ecological advancement, to turn China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful and realize national rejuvenation."
The militarization of South China Sea will be brisker, the belts and roads will enmesh the region in a Chinese grid, and the south Asian outbacks will get a swarm of Chinese ports and naval bases.
That's mostly gibberish if you are not a Chinese comrade. The outside world can get ready to play hard ball with Xi. The rivals and neighbours will see a leader with colossal powers and overriding ambition to make 'China great again'.
The militarization of South China Sea will be brisker, the belts and roads will enmesh the region in a Chinese grid, and the south Asian outbacks will get a swarm of Chinese ports and naval bases. Within China, whatever was ever talked about over 'socialist democracy' will cease to exist. The rule by the party oligarchy is more likely to become the rule by a sycophantic inner core.
As an inward-looking America under Donald Trump waters down its regional hegemonic stance, China under Xi is surely there to fill the gaps. Xi's mandate is to make China the world's biggest super power in the next 30 years, and it's worth watching how the plan unfolds.
