The day China’s ruling Communist Party unveiled a proposal to allow President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely as Mao Zedong did a generation ago, Ma Bo was so shaken he couldn’t sleep. As China’s rubber-stamp legislature prepares to approve constitutional changes abolishing term limits for the president on Sunday, signs of dissent and biting satire have been all but snuffed out. Letting Xi rule indefinitely “will strengthen the party’s leadership and offer the quickest path toward development,” Zhang said. Even some of the government’s most outspoken critics have been reluctant to loudly criticize the constitutional amendment. “I want to be able to face my past.”In the run-up to the vote, congress delegates have lavished extra praise on Xi.

Source: Egypt Independent March 10, 2018 11:14 UTC