A nation must think before it acts.
Senior Fellow June Teufel Dreyer Quoted in the Japan Times on Possible Extension of Xi Jinping’s Presidency
State-run media immediately lavished praise on the decision, with the Global Times tabloid, writing that the Central Committee’s proposed amendment to lift term limits would “improve” leadership.
“From the anti-corruption campaign to comprehensively advancing the rule of law to profound economic restructuring, the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core has sturdily opened a new era for a hopeful China,” the daily said in an editorial.
Experts said this move had long been in the making.
“He’s been preparing this ever since taking office in 2012: setting up ‘leading small groups’ on sundry topics with himself as head of all; removing those who might resist him from their bases of power through the anti-corruption campaign; instituting even tighter restrictions on social media with the help of new AI technology,” said June Teufel Dreyer, a University of Miami professor and Asia expert who served as a commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
“Resistance,” she said, “would appear to be futile.”