By: Kanwal SibalThe move by the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) to amend the constitution to give a third term to President Xi Jinping has several implications, largely negative. When the Politburo Standing Committee was reconstituted at the 19th National Congress of the CPC in October 2017, it was suspected that this might happen because, contrary to past practice, no potential successor to Xi was identified.In the lead-up to the Congress, Xi systematically decimated rival party factions, including through his anti-corruption drive, and emerged as the undisputed leader. The inclusion of his unwieldy worded “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a new Era” in the party constitution was meant to elevate him to a Mao-like status. With the proposed constitutional amendment, China is turning its back to collective leadership and reverting to undisguised dictatorship.The bitter lessons of the Mao era are being forgotten, and the abandonment of collective leadership portends a stronger revival of the personality cult, increased centralisation, more authoritarian policies, greater suppression of dissent, less freedom, and so on. When collective leadership was first instituted, hopes arose that this might serve to relatively moderate Chinese policies at home and abroad. These hopes, largely belied in recent years, are being extinguished with the latest move.As the number two power in the world and aspiring to be number one, how China conducts itself in the coming years will affect international peace and security. It will also have a bearing on the present liberal, democratic, free market international order largely established by the West. Xi is already challenging this order, offering its own political and development model as a more efficient alternative. He has repeatedly rejected western values and western democracy, with attempts to weed out western ideas from Chinese society. Firewalls have been set up to control the internet.

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Whatever the deficiencies of the present system built to perpetuate western domination, does the world want Chinese ideas on controlling society, suppressing dissent, curtailing human freedom, building a pervasive internal security apparatus and so on to supplant it internationally?Instead of moving towards a more transparent and open system of governance, China is moving towards a more hardened dictatorship, and this will have negative consequences for the international system that no doubt needs reform, but not in the direction China is headed.Xi Jinping has already unveiled China’s hegemonic ambitions to become a global superpower and a modern socialist industrial state by 2049, the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. He visualises the People’s Liberation Army being transformed into a modern fighting force capable of winning wars by 2035. These ambitions are being realised through very large defence outlays, massive expansion of naval power, development of cutting-edge technologies by recourse to means fair or foul, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and so on.Under Xi, China has broadened its “core interests”, asserted sovereignty claims contrary to international law, treated the arbitral award against its actions in the South China Sea with contempt, pursued what has been characterised as “predatory economics” and colonial type exploitative policies in dealing with developing countries. The consolidation of his power at home will only consolidate the direction of his external policies.A strong national leader inevitably makes his presence felt internationally too, given the networks that tie nations together in this globalised world. A powerful leader at home always looks for expanding options for his country abroad. China’s challenge to India in its neighbourhood will sharpen. The world will now have to deal with a determined and motivated Xi for the next ten years or even more.