Bonds of mysterious Chinese energy firm CEFC crashed on Thursday amid reports that its chairman Ye Jianming had been detained, complicating its deal to buy a $9bn stake in Russian oil company Rosneft.
Last weekend China stepped from autocracy into dictatorship. That was when Xi Jinping, already the world’s most powerful man, let it be known that he will change China’s constitution so that he can rule as president for as long as he chooses—and conceivably for life.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has had a fruitful five plus years in his current position.
The February 25 announcement that the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.) has proposed a constitutional amendment that would remove term limits on the office of the presidency is arguably the most significant Chinese political and legal development in almost three decades, or maybe even four. It is a clear indication that Xi Jinping intends to—and, in all likelihood, will—stay in power beyond the two-term limit that both his predecessors adhered to, and therefore signals the ending of what one might call the “Deng Xiaoping framework” of Chinese high politics, under which lifelong rule by a single strongman gave way to regular retirement, rotations, and collective decision-making. At this point, it would be quite surprising if Xi retired even after three terms in power.
Zak Dychtwald is the author of Young China: How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World (St. Martin’s Press). He moved to China after graduating from Columbia University, but has recently relocated to New York City where he has founded a think tank and consultancy focused on young China. A fluent Mandarin speaker, Dychtwald spends nearly half of the year in China.
Outside observers typically view China’s media as utterly shackled by the bonds of censorship, unable to critique the government or speak truth to power in any meaningful sense. In part, this is true. Censorship and other pressures do create “no-go” zones for journalists in China, as well as gray zones that sometimes rapidly turn red. But the critical role of media in China is underappreciated. While allowing that “speaking truth to power” in the sense of a free press in a liberal democracy is obviously not how China works, many investigative journalists and journalist-intellectuals play a surprisingly active role in giving feedback and constructive criticism to the Party-state.
