Return to strongman rule dangerous for China

THE decision by President Xi Jinping to end term limits for himself returns China to strongman rule, a style of government that many hoped had died with Mao Zedong in 1976. It also pits him directly against Deng Xiaoping's political reforms, aimed at preventing the concentration of too much power in one man.

Mao was the leader of China from the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 until his death in 1976. He had no respect for institutions and, in fact, abolished the presidency in the 1960s. China had no president from the late 1960s until the early 1980s.

It wasn't until the promulgation of the 1982 constitution that the presidency was revived. That constitution also saw the introduction of term limits.