Xi joins Mao in Communist constitution, tightening grip on China

Chinese leader Xi Jinping was elevated to the pantheon of the country’s greatest leaders Tuesday as his name was enshrined in the Communist Party constitution alongside Chairman Mao.

   
The inclusion of Xi’s eponymous guiding philosophy for the nation cements his place as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades and suggests he could remain its paramount leader throughout his lifetime.   

Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong, and the architect of market reforms, Deng Xiaoping, are the only other Chinese leaders to have their names in the document --and only Mao was alive when his was included.   

Xi, 64, presided over the week-long congress’s closing session where some 2,300 delegates approved the constitutional amendment to include “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”.   

Xi also got two of his cherished programmes written into the constitution: an anti-corruption campaign that has brought down 1.5 million crooked officials since 2012 and the Belt and Road initiative, the massive global trade infrastructure project intended to increase the country’s 
influence abroad.   

The concept places a heavy emphasis on the party’s role in governing every aspect of the country from the economy to what people are writing on social media.   

With his name in the constitution, Xi will have the last word on all political matters and could stay on as the nation’s top leader even if he gives up the title of general secretary when his second term ends in 2022, analysts said. 
BEIJING AFP Oct24, 2017