​Xi Jinping’s constitutional change….power grab or sign of weakness?

CHINA ADVISORY - In Brief 28 Feb 2018 by Andrew Collier

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The announcement that Xi Jinping will seek an unlimited term as President of China has been widely misinterpreted as the act of a strongman that could lead to a return to the days of Maoism. Instead, we should view the announcement as a sign of weakness – Xi is tightening his political control as China struggles with real problems including rising corruption, declining growth, and a potentially disastrous debt bomb. We are not arguing that changing the constitution to allow Xi to stay in power as President is a positive move for China. But we would argue that the motivations are far less nefarious than many observers think. The focus on anti-corruption and not just a power grab is evident in several recent events: Anti-Corruption Campaign. This was one of Xi Jinping’s first policies established in 2012 shortly after he took power. It may have had overtones of a factional battle against his enemies but it has remained in place as a crackdown on illegal siphoning of resources.Anti-Corruption Bureau. Outlined in 2016 but expected to be created this year, The new commission will integrate the anti-corruption powers of bodies including the CCDI, the State Council’s Ministry of Supervision, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s anti-corruption bureau and the National Audit Office, and will be given more independence, operating parallel to the cabinet, legislature and supreme court.Takeover of Anbang. This was a highly unusual asset grab by the state regulators. The leadership usually gets an SOE to organize a merger or some other method to do its dirty work. The takeover by the government itself was an indication of how concerned Beijing was at the use of huge amounts of capi...