Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Should China's Xi be president for life?

China has approved the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life.

The constitutional changes were passed by the annual sitting of parliament, the National People's Congress.

The vote was widely regarded as a rubber-stamping exercise. Two delegates voted against the change and three abstained, out of 2,964 votes.

China had imposed a two-term limit on its president since the 1990s.

But Mr Xi, who would have been due to step down in 2023, defied the tradition of presenting a potential successor during October's Communist Party Congress.

Instead, he consolidated his political power as the party voted to enshrine his name and political ideology in the party's constitution - elevating his status to the level of its founder, Chairman Mao.

On paper, the congress is the most powerful legislative body in China - similar to the parliament in other nations. But it was widely believed that it would approve what it was told to.

Xi forever?

Analysis by Stephen McDonell, BBC China correspondent in Beijing

It is now hard to see Xi Jinping being challenged in any way whatsoever.

He has amassed power the likes of which has not been seen since Chairman Mao Zedong.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Xi applauded after the amendment was passed

Only five years ago Beijing was being ruled by a collective leadership. Under ex-President Hu Jintao you could imagine differing views being expressed in the then nine-member Politburo Standing Committee.

There was a feeling that Mr Hu needed to please various factions within the Communist Party and it seemed that every 10 years a new leader would come along with their own people in a process of smooth transition.

From today all this has gone.

The constitution has been altered to allow Xi Jinping to remain as president beyond two terms and they would not have gone to this much trouble if that was not exactly what he intended to do.

There has been no national debate as to whether a leader should be allowed to stay on for as long as they choose. Quietly but surely Xi Jinping has changed the way his country is governed, with himself well and truly at the core.

Rare dissent

The issue is not, however, without controversy.

Online censors in China have been blocking discussion around the topic, including images of Winnie the Pooh. Social media users have taken to using the cartoon character to represent Mr Xi.

Image copyright WEIBO/AFP Image caption Social media users create "Winnie the Pooh" memes to avoid being seen as making derogatory posts against Mr Xi (r)

One government critic described the proposal in an open letter last month as a "farce", in a rare show of public dissent.

Former state newspaper editor Li Datong wrote that scrapping term limits for the president and vice-president would sow the seeds of chaos - in a message sent to some members of the national congress.

"I couldn't bear it any more. I was discussing with my friends and we were enraged. We have to voice our opposition," he told BBC Chinese.

State media, however, have portrayed the changes as much-needed reform.

US President Donald Trump was criticised by some commentators for seeming to approve of Mr Xi's unlimited rule, saying on Monday: "President for life... I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot some day."

At a political rally on Saturday, Mr Trump insisted he had merely been joking during a fundraiser, and that his comments were represented unfairly by some media.

Xi Jinping thought

Mr Xi's possible third term is not the only item the National People's Congress is likely to approve. It was also expected to:

confirm China's new government line-up for the next five years, kicking off Xi Jinping's second term as president

ratify a law to set up a new powerful anti-corruption agency

ratify the inclusion of the president's political philosophy - "Xi Jinping thought" - in the constitution

Xi Jinping thought is the ideology approved by the Communist Party last October. Officially, it is "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era".

Schoolchildren, college students and staff at state factories will have to study the political ideology, which the Communist Party is trying to portray as a new chapter for modern China.

More on China under Xi

Mr Xi became president in 2013, and quickly consolidated personal power while cementing China as the regional superpower.

He also fought corruption, punishing more than a million party members - which has helped his popularity among some.

At the same time, however, China has clamped down on many emerging freedoms, increasing its state surveillance and censorship programs. Critics also say Mr Xi has used the anti-corruption purge to sideline political rivals.</s>The People’s Congress in China have adopted a constitutional amendment that allows Xi Jinping to become president for life.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party proposed earlier this year to remove the limitation on the number of years the country’s president and vice president can sit.

The Chinese Constitution stated that they “shall not sit for more than two consecutive periods”, but this has now changed.

The nearly 3,000 delegates in China’s Legislative Assembly, the ‘People’s Congress’, voted on the proposal to amend the law on Sunday, and the outcome was read. Only two of the delegates voted against, while three abstained.

In practice, the change means that the country’s 64-year-old president, Xi Jinping, can remain seated, even after his second period expires in 2023.

“We have seen Xi Jinping consolidate power, and that he has a completely different style than his predecessor, who stood for a more consensus-based approach. Xi has,to a far greater extent, set himself in the lead and defined himself as the leader of the people’’, said researcher, Andreas Bøje Forsby at the Danish Institute of International Studies.

Xi exploits the void that US President Donald Trump has now created in world politics, noted Forsby last month.

China stands for a completely different model than liberal Western democracy, but it also stands for stability. And that is strengthened with this grip on power, said Bøje Forsby.

Professor Jørgen Delman at the University of Copenhagen agrees, and believes that XI will now become the world’s most significant man.

‘’Xi Jinping is crucial to what is happening in the world now.

And with this change he becomes very central to what’s happening globally over the next few years. There is no doubt about that’’,Delman noted.</s>The recent sitting of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party rolled out a big surprise development: a proposed removal of presidential term limits. This came among a raft of other constitutional amendments.

The two-term limit had been instituted in 1982 by Deng Xiaoping after his experience with the chaotic post-Mao succession. Term limits were instituted to facilitate orderly succession and to support China’s reform era.

China’s economic transformation wasn’t to be disrupted or sidetracked by unnecessary political struggles and uncertainty. Consequently, successive communist leaders have abided by this limitation. And it has ushered in relatively smooth and carefully choreographed changes of leadership.

The broader implication of this announcement, critics fear, might be that it signals to African authoritarians to strengthen their grasp on executive office and push back on the need for leadership alternation.

In fact observers are already pointing to the increasing allure of the China model as a basis for African economic and political development.

In Africa, term limits have acted as a democratic safety net for the untamed African presidency, and their removal has often been counterproductive. Their removal in Beijing might have the unintended knock-on effect of weakening faltering democracies on the African continent.

President Xi Jinping’s tenure has been like no other in China’s recent history. Arguably the most transformative leader since Mao Zedong, he has gone on to cement an indelible mark on the system that paved his way to the top.

As the President of the People’s Republic, chairman of the Central Military Commission, and general secretary of the CCP, he has consolidated his core leadership. He has also had his personal political doctrine; Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era written into the constitution.

While at it, he tore up the rule book by purging the highest party echelons of corrupt officials both big and small. Or in his words “tigers and flies”.

Xi has also pivoted China to the centre of the world stage. He has midwifed an assertive and confident China that is no longer subservient to the West.

Some might even call him a progressive. And this is why the CCP’s proposal to remove China’s presidential term limits could be construed as surprising.

To the keen observer, however, this latest development isn’t as surprising as it seems. This is because there was a notable absence of primed successors in China’s new Standing Committee of the Politburo historically an avenue from which incoming leadership is always chosen. The five existing members all 60 years and above are presumed too old to be considered for president at the 20th congress in 2022.

So for the moment, once the constitutional changes are approved, President Xi Jinping will stay put.

But what impact will this have beyond China?

African countries are often castigated for their poor leadership record, long term presidencies and atrocious human rights record. Yet in dealing with African states, China professes a doctrine of non-interference in the internal matters of national governments.

The implication has been that China is willing to do business with African leaders irrespective of their political realities.

As a result China’s relations with countries such as Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda – to mention a few – have been buoyed by billions of dollars of investment. In return, China expects Africa’s political support and steady access to the continent’s raw materials. This according to Beijing is a win-win mutual relationship.

With the removal of China’s presidential term limits adds a new dimension to the relationship: African presidents now have a political godfather whose political practice they can claim to emulate. Or at the very least to validate their continued stay in office.

Claims that removing term limits will ensure that Chinese live happier lives, rejuvenate economic and political growth, and fulfil the will of the people mirrors the rhetoric in countries like Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Congo, and Gabon to mention but a few.

China has fast become Africa’s development partner of choice and now the country and the continent are on the same political wavelength.

To be fair, however, while Xi Jinping has superintended over phenomenal social and economic transformation over the past few years (he has been in power since 2012), not much can be said of his African counterparts. While he has aggressively and persistently purged corrupt officials his counterparts continued to indulge in unabated state looting and profligacy.

While ending term limits might be good for China, it is an unwelcome gift for African despots who can now point to China as justification for their authoritarian tendencies. China might profess a non-interference policy, and claim to tailor its engagements on a country by country basis, but it will remain a model for many African governance whether it likes it or not. And therein lies the irony of global leadership for with power comes responsibility.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.</s>BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s largely rubber stamp parliament on Sunday passed a series of constitutional amendments, including one that removes presidential term limits, allowing President Xi Jinping to remain in office indefinitely.</s>China is set to approve the removal of term limits for its leader, in a move that will effectively allow Xi Jinping to remain as president for life.

The change is part of a set of constitutional changes expected to be passed by China's annual sitting of the National People's Congress on Sunday.

China has imposed a two-term limit on its president since the 1990s.

Mr Xi, however, defied the tradition of presenting a potential successor during October's Communist Party Congress.

Instead, he consolidated his political power as the party voted to enshrine his name and political ideology in the party's constitution - elevating his status to the level of its founder, Mao Zedong.

In late February, the party proposed removing term limits from China's constitution. Mr Xi was due to step down in 2023.
• In depth: Xi, the president who lived in a cave

Sunday's vote on the changes at the National People's Congress is expected to pass without any difficulty.

The congress is, on paper, the most powerful legislative body in China - similar to the parliament in other nations.

But it is widely seen as a "rubber stamping" body, which will approve what it is told to.

The issue is not, however, without controversy.

The National People's Congress has never voted against the Communist Party. But some reports suggest a number of the 2,980 delegates may abstain - which would be seen as a clear protest vote.

Censors in China have been blocking discussion around the topic, including images of Winnie the Pooh. Social media users have taken to using cartoon character to represent Mr Xi.

One government critic wrote an open letter describing the proposal as a "farce", in a rare show of public dissent.

Former state newspaper editor Li Datong wrote that scrapping term limits for the president and vice-president would sow the seeds of chaos - in a message sent to some members of the national congress.

"I couldn't bear it any more. I was discussing with my friends and we were enraged. We have to voice our opposition," he told BBC China.

State media, however, have portrayed the changes as much-needed reform.

US President Donald Trump was criticised by some commentators for seeming to approve of Mr Xi's unlimited rule, saying on Monday: "President for life... I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot some day."

At a political rally on Saturday, Mr Trump insisted he had merely been joking during a fundraiser, and that his comments were represented unfairly by some media.

Mr Xi's possible third term is not the only item the National People's Congress is likely to approve. It is also expected to:
• confirm China's new government line-up for the next five years, kicking off Xi Jinping's second term as president
• ratify a law to set up a new powerful anti-corruption agency
• ratify the inclusion of the president's political philosophy - "Xi Jinping Thought" - in the constitution

Xi Jinping thought is the ideology approved by the Communist Party last October. Officially, it is "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era".

Schoolchildren, college students and staff at state factories will have to study the political ideology, which the Communist Party is trying to portray as a new chapter for modern China.

Mr Xi became president in 2012, and quickly consolidated personal power while cementing China as the regional superpower.

He also fought corruption, punishing more than a million party members - which has helped his popularity among some.

At the same time, however, China has clamped down on many emerging freedoms, increasing its state surveillance and censorship programs.</s>BEIJING—Since China’s Communist Party unveiled plans to let Xi Jinping remain president indefinitely, delegates to the national legislature have gushingly likened him to a Buddhist saint or the world’s longest-reigning monarch.

Their devotion translated into a near-unanimous vote on Sunday to scrap presidential term limits and approve other constitutional changes to entrench Mr. Xi and his Communist Party’s dominance over Chinese life.</s>CHINA’S parliament has passed historic constitutional changes that abolish term limits to let President Xi Jinping rule indefinitely.

Sunday’s announcement of the vote, witnessed by reporters in the Great Hall of the People, passed with two “no” votes and three abstentions among almost 3000 delegates.

China’s ruling Communist Party proposed the amendment last month and there was never any doubt it would pass as parliament is packed with loyal party members who would not have opposed the proposal.

RELATED: Anything that can be used to insult Xi, even a phrase, will be banned

MORE: Emperor Xi Jingping, China enters a new era under just one leader

The amendment upends a system enacted by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1982 to prevent a return to the bloody excesses of a lifelong dictatorship typified by Mao Zedong’s chaotic 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. The slide toward one-man rule under Xi has fuelled concern that Beijing is eroding efforts to guard against the excesses of autocratic leadership and make economic regulation more stable and predictable.

In a sign of the issue’s sensitivity, government censors are aggressively scrubbing social media of expressions ranging from “I disagree” to “Xi Zedong.” US President Donald Trump was criticised last week for seeming to approve of Xi’s unlimited rule, saying: “President for life ... I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”</s>March 11 (UPI) -- China's legislature was nearly unanimously endorsed a change constitution Sunday in Bejing, formally removing term limits to enable Xi Jinping to stay on as the president for life.

Out of 2,964 ballots by the National People's Congress, just two delegates voted against the move and three abstained in the biggest change to the constitution in 36 years. The amendments' passage required two thirds of the vote.

Otherwise, X's term would expire in 2023.

The two-term limit was approved in 1982 to prevent a repeat of a decadeslong reign by Mao Zedong, who died while in office.

Before the vote by the largely ceremonial parliament, the ruling Communist Party announced the proposals on Feb. 25. It said it aligned the presidency with Xi's two other, more powerful, posts -- heads of the party and the military -- without no term limits.

Xi, 64, last week endorsed the proposed constitutional changes as a desire of "common will of the party and the people."

In China, there was opposition to the change.

"He just dug a huge hole for himself," said Li Datong, a former editor of the state-run China Youth Daily newspaper said to CNN. "The top leader's term limits are the biggest common denominator shared by all political forces in China. Its removal could trigger political infighting -- that's why this move is dangerous."

Shen Chunyao, a senior NPC official, said to media after the vote: "I don't think this issue exists."

The amendment also applies to the vice presidency, a largely ceremonial post.

Wang Qishan, China's fearsome former anti-corruption czar, is likely to become the new vice president later this week.

"He's a bit of bulldozer -- and there's no other senior politician who could or want to stand up to him," said Duncan Innes-Ker, regional director for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said to CNN. "The trouble with being the clear leader of everything is that everyone knows where the buck stops if something goes wrong."

In another major constitutional change approved Sunday, a national anti-corruption agency, called the National Supervision Commission, was approved. It has the same high-level status as the supreme court and the top prosecutor's office.

The NSC can prosecute anyone who exercises public authority, instead of just Communist Party members.

"It looks very much like the early stage of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, the accumulation of power," Innes-Ker said. "The bigger question is whether or not this accumulation of power around Xi is positive or negative for reform."

Also among the 21 constitutional changes, Xi's political doctrine -- "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" -- was added to the constitution. The party added this to its charter in October.</s>One of the reasons for Western dismay at the decision by the Chinese parliament earlier today to abolish the terms limits of the Chinese Presidency – paving the way for President Xi Jinping to remain Chinese President when his present term limit expires – is that it guarantees that the partnership between Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin which has been making the international political weather ever since Xi Jinping emerged as China’s President in 2013 is set to confinue.

President Putin is due to be re-elected on 18th March 2018 for what it is widely assumed will be his last term as Russia’s President, which will end in 2024. President Xi Jinping’s second term as Chinese President is due to end in 2023.

Even if the Chinese parliament had not just decided to change the Chinese President’s term limits, Xi Jinping would therefore continue to be China’s leader throughout President Putin’s next term.

Moreover, as many people have pointed out, the office of the Chinese President (more correctly, of the ‘State Chairman’) has only nominal power, with the actual power held by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, who has no term limits, and who is of course Xi Jinping himself.

The ending of the term limits for the Chinese President, together with the widespread and almost certainly correct assumption that it will be President Xi Jinping who will benefit by being re-elected for a further term as Chinese President in 2023, however conclusively confirms Xi Jinping’s position as China’s paramount and undisputed leader.

This means that after the colourless eras of Xi Jinping’s two predecessors – Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao – China once again has in the person of Xi Jinping a strong leader, just as it once did in the eras of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

This is vitally important because China currently stands at a crucial crossroads in its development when strong and purposeful leadership is needed.

In its domestic policies China is engaging in the massive task of reorienting its economy away from mass production towards growth driven by services and technology.

This is an exceptionally difficult transition to navigate, one which the Soviets in the 1970s – who at that time found themselves facing roughly the same transition as the one China is facing now – referred to as the transition from ‘extensive’ to ‘intensive’ development.

The USSR failed to make the transition successfully, setting the scene for the crisis which eventually led to its collapse.

A strong and authoritative leader, popular in the country and able to push through essential decisions in the face of the bureaucratic and political obstacles which are certain to arise, is indispensable in this situation if a crisis is to be avoided.

That the Chinese leadership understand this very well is shown by how the abolition of the term limits is explained by this editorial in the semi-official Global Times

First, in this juncture China faces a series of major challenges regarding its reform in and outside the country, which demands the Constitution be revised in accordance with the times. Major countries now are mobilising their political resources to strengthen their decision-making capacity. The amendment is primarily driven by China’s internal needs for development. Second, Chinese people are deeply aware that their happy life must originate from solidarity and stability, and that this has to be guarded by the whole of society led by the CPC Central Committee. In these years we have seen the rise and decline of countries and particularly the harsh reality that the Western political system doesn’t apply to developing countries and produces dreadful results. Luckily China has maintained its steady rise for a long period. We are increasingly confident that the key to China’s path lies in upholding strong Party leadership and firmly following the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core. Upon its founding, the People’s Republic of China largely copied the Soviet Union’s socialist system. Since reform and opening-up, China has embarked on a socialist path with Chinese characteristics and become the second-largest economy. This shows political independence is key to how far China can go. Most major phenomena facing China can’t be explained by Western theories. China must find solutions with its own wisdom. Whether our practices are good should be assessed by whether they respond to and promote China’s mission, and the actual results. Despite the flood of information that poured into China after reform and opening-up, Chinese society has managed to deal with it and accumulated collective wisdom. In this process the leadership of the Party Central Committee has been instrumental. The Constitutional amendment comes at a good time as it consolidates the guiding thought, Party leadership, the leadership structure and the improved supervisory mechanism when China faces arduous tasks in the new era.

The careful reference to the USSR makes it perfectly clear to which country the words about the “rise and decline of countries” refer to.

As for the words the “harsh reality that the Western political system doesn’t apply to developing countries and produces dreadful results”, taken in conjunction with the references to the USSR, these clearly refer to Mikhail Gorbachev’s disastrous democratisation or ‘perestroika’ policies, which instead of helping the USSR’s transition from ‘extensive’ to ‘intensive’ development, caused instead its collapse.

The final words about the need to “consolidate the leadership structure and improved supervisory mechanism when China faces arduous tasks in the new era” show that the Chinese do not intend to repeat Gorbachev’s mistakes.

Unlike the USSR, instead of ‘democratising’ they will strengthen the central leadership in order to keep a tight control of the process so as make the transition from ‘extensive’ to ‘intensive’ development successful.

Those familiar with Soviet history will recognise this as the same approach which Yury Andropov – the USSR’s last but one leader – had intended to follow.

Not coincidentally, just as Yury Andropov in the brief period when he was Soviet leader emphasised the fight against corruption as essential in order to carry out the transition from ‘extensive’ to ‘intensive’ development successfully, so does his Chinese equivalent Xi Jinping today.

In both cases, apart from a genuine desire to root out corruption, mounting an anti-corruption campaign imposes discipline, which is essential if a successful transition is to be achieved.

If however confirmation of Xi Jinping as China’s paramount leader has a primarily internal purpose, it also has an external dimension the importance of which should not be underestimated.

Even as China changes the structure of its economy the external environment is becoming less favourable for China.

Whereas in the 1990s and 2000s China’s economy was able to grow with the benevolent encouragement of the US, today US attitudes towards China have changed, with many Americans (not just President Trump) feeling that China has taken the US for a ride by growing its economy at the US’s expense.

That means that China may not have unimpeded access to the US market for much longer,

China must also face the reality of a US naval build up in the Pacific, with the US increasingly challenging China in China’s peripheral areas, notably the South China Sea which is for China a key artery for its trade.

The growing confrontation with the US means that China can no longer afford to take its maritime trade routes – vital not just for its exports, but also for its imports of vital raw materials – for granted.

This explains the gigantic One Belt, One Road programme upon which China has embarked, which aims to secure for China access to Eurasia’s unlimited supply of raw materials and to provide high speed transport links across Eurasia for China’s goods.

This in turn explains why for China its close relationship with Russia – the supreme Eurasian power – is not just geopolitically but also economically crucial.

Quite simply, without Russia’s cooperation the One Belt, One Road programme is impossible, and China becomes increasingly vulnerable to economic pressure from an increasingly hostile US.

This is the foundation which underpins the relationship between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

Though all the indications are that the two men have developed a strong relationship with each other and even regard each other as friends, ultimately it is their countries’ vital interests which draw them together.

Just as for China its relationship with Russia is vital for its long term economic security, so for Russia – by now disillusioned about the prospects of its relations with the West – the relationship with China – the world’s second biggest economy – is vital in order to secure its geopolitical and economic future.

Having said this, though the relationship between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin is firmly based on a clear sighted understanding of their countries’ respective national interests, given the current extremely fraught nature of the international situation both will be relieved that their partnership is set to continue and become stronger.

Neither of them would want at this complex and difficult time to have to start over with someone else.

The political changes underway in both China and Russia this month – the meeting of the Chinese Parliament and the Russian Presidential election – ensure that both men will get their wish, and their partnership will not only continue but will become stronger</s>President Xi Jinping of China is poised to rule the country indefinitely after Chinese lawmakers passed changes to the country's constitution abolishing presidential term limits.

The amendment was sure to pass the country's rubber-stamp legislature, the National People's Congress, which voted 2,958 in favor, two opposed and three abstaining.

Since Xi assumed leadership of China's Communist Party in 2012, he has rapidly consolidated power to levels not seen since the era of Mao Zedong. The constitutional change officially allows him to remain in office after the end of his second term in 2023.

"In some ways, the move represents the end of China's 40-year-long reform era," NPR's Anthony Kuhn explained last month, when the proposed changes were announced. "The era began after the death of Chairman Mao Zedong in 1976, when China tried to move away from the political violence and cult of personality that characterized his rule."

The two-consecutive-term limit to China's presidency was put in place by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1982 "in order to avoid the kind of chaos and tumult that can sometimes happen when you have a single authoritarian leader, as China had with Mao Zedong," Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations told NPR's All Things Considered.

The change in presidency aligns it with the other posts Xi holds, as head of the Communist Party and head of the military, neither of which have term limits, Kuhn says.

The National People's Congress approved two additional constitutional amendments, including "the addition of a political philosophy called Xi Jinping Thought to the constitution, and the creation of politically driven 'supervisory commissions' tasked with investigating party members and civil servants," The Guardian reported.

Xi signaled his strength last year when he had his theories added to the Communist Party charter and he bucked the trend to designate a successor at the end of his first term.

China's leaders "claim that they're making the move in response to popular demand, but they haven't released the results of any survey," Kuhn adds. "Criticism of the move has been largely censored on the Internet, so it's hard to gauge public opinion on the matter."

"In a sign of the issue's sensitivity, the government censors are aggressively scrubbing social media of expressions ranging from 'I disagree' to 'Xi Zedong,' " The Associated Press reports. "A number of prominent Chinese figures have publicly protested the move, despite the risk of official retaliation."

Though the AP adds, "To be sure, Xi's confident, populist leadership style and tough attitude toward official corruption has won him a significant degree of popular support."

China's state-run news agency Xinhua described the event simply, with the headline: "China's national legislature adopts constitutional amendment." The agency said the constitutional changes have "won approval from both inside and outside the Party, is of historic significance for ensuring prosperity and lasting security of both the Party and the country."
China's National People's Congress approves the removal of presidential term limits, in a move that allows current president Xi Jinping to remain president for life.