China defends plans to scrap presidential term limit

(4 Mar 2018) A Chinese official is defending Beijing's plan to scrap term limits on the presidency that would enable Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely as a way to ensure that three of Xi's main leadership positions are unified. Spokesman of the National People's Congress Zhang Yesui said Sunday the constitutional amendment is only aimed at bringing the office of the president in line with rules on Xi's other positions atop the party and a military commission. This year's gathering of the ceremonial legislature has been overshadowed by the ruling Communist Party's surprise move to announce a plan to end two-term limits on the presidency. That means Xi, already China's most powerful leader in decades, could extend his rule over China for life. China has no desire to overturn the existing international order and its increasingly powerful military does not constitute a threat to others, the spokesman for the country's ceremonial legislature said Sunday. However, in a break with recent practice, Zhang refused to provide a figure for the rate of growth in the national defence budget. That move follows complaints that China isn't open enough about how it funds its military or what the goals of its massive campaign of expansion and modernisation are. Zhang sought to strike a reassuring tone in remarks at a news conference on the eve of the opening of the National People's Congress' annual two-week session. He said China defended and contributed to the current United Nations-centered global order, but also said some reforms were necessary. "We hope the international order could evolve towards greater justice and equality," Zhang said, pointing especially to global economic growth, trade and poverty reduction. "As to the international order, we have no intention of overthrowing everything for starting over again," Zhang said. Reforms should focus on "international rules that have fallen behind the times and no longer align with the shared aspirations of all nations." China's secretive military had begun to open up a crack in recent years, and the NPC spokesman in recent years has made a tradition of responding to a question on the defence budget by announcing the percentage increase over the past years, at least in rough terms. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...