BEIJING: The constitutional amendment adopted by China’s national legislature on Sunday, including a revision regarding the president’s term of office, is good for China’s enduring peace and stability, a Chinese official said on Monday.
Commission for Legislative Affairs of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee Chairman Shen Chunyao said the revision was good for upholding the authority of a centralised and unified leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core.
“It is a key measure to improve the state leadership system,” Shen told reporters at a press conference held after the amendment was adopted.
He said the experience of the past 20 plus years showed that the “three in one” leadership system was successful, effective and pivotal for China. The “three” refers to the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, the chairman of the Central Military Commission and the state president – the top positions of the ruling party, the armed forces and the state.
Shen said there had been growing and across-the-board calls for the provision of the president’s term in the Constitution to be compatible with that of the other two top positions.
“The ‘three in one’ leadership is not only necessary but proves to be the most suitable system for a big party and country like ours,” he said.
“It is a successful experience that we draw from the party’s long-term governance,” he said, adding that this revision was “very important” and its meanings needed to be learned well and correctly by everyone.
Shen said the revision had a wide and solid political, legal and social base. Lawmakers applauded twice when it was introduced at the NPC annual session on March 5 for deliberation.
In response to a reporter’s question, he said the hypothesis of a repetition of political turmoil linked to reshuffling of the leadership was unfounded because the CPC had managed to solve a number of key challenges in its over 90 years history, including how to ensure the orderly transition of the party and state leaders at all levels.
The path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics that the CPC had explored would lead China to an even brighter future, Shen concluded.
