CHINA

PRESIDENT Xi Jinping has been given the go-ahead to rule China for the rest of his life.

The country’s parliament voted overwhelmingly earlier this week to abolish the 35-year-old law limiting leaders to two consecutive terms in power.

The decision marks a leap back in time, reversing the system of “collective leadership”. And it elevates Mr Xi to the same supreme position enjoyed by Mao Zedong, the dictator who ruled China from 1949 to his death in 1976.

The National People’s Congress backed the constitutional amendment by voting 2,958 in favour – with only two voting against and three abstaining.

Once the parliamentary ballot had been cast, to polite applause, the announcer declared: “The constitutional amendment item has passed.” Mr Xi, who would have had to step down in 2023, showed little emotion. The slide towards one-man rule will fuel concerns about a return to the excesses of autocratic leadership and the possible economic consequences.

Mr Xi’s confident leadership style and tough attitude towards corruption has won him popular support.

Now 64, the unchallenged leader of the world’s most populous nation worked his way up from the poverty of a rural commune. Mr Xi – married to soprano Peng Liyuan, 55, with whom he has one daughter – was appointed leader of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012 and has moved to concentrate power in his own hands. He has appointed himself to bodies that oversee security, finance and economic reform.

Critics fear the lessons of history are being forgotten. Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based political commentator, said: “This marks the biggest regression in China’s legal system since the reform and opening-up era of the 1980s. I’m afraid that this will all be written into our history in the future.”

In a sign of the issue’s sensitivity, government censors have aggressively cleared social media of expressions ranging from “I disagree” to “Xi Zedong”.

Mr Xi’s control has crushed hopes for reform among China’s embattled liberal scholars and activists, who now fear even greater repression. China allows no political opposition and has relentlessly persecuted groups seeking greater civic participation.

The country’s growing economic power also means world leaders are unlikely to make too much of the developments.

Only last month Theresa May visited China in what was seen as the first step towards a post-Brexit trade deal with the country. Commercial deals worth a total of £9billion were said to have been signed during the trip.

Most powerful man since Mao

The vote makes Xi Jinping China’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.

It also undoes the system of “collective leadership” introduced to avoid a repeat of Chairman Mao’s long and bloody reign.

The founding father of the People’s Republic of China, Mao ruled from when he seized power in 1949 to his death in 1976.

He introduced dramatic and disastrous reforms as he established his own brand of Communism.

The Great Leap Forward – a mass mobilisation of labour to improve production and output – resulted in famine and the deaths of millions.

In 1966 Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to purge the country of opponents. It crippled the economy and thrust China into ten years of turmoil, bloodshed and hunger. It also saw the imprisonment of a huge number of citizens.

His final years saw attempts to build bridges with the US, Japan and Europe, but his reputation could never be restored.

Such was Mao’s devastating impact that in 1982 a law was passed limiting presidents to two terms.

Its reversal will raise fears of a return to the horrors of Mao’s reign.