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China Censors Social Media Responses To Proposal To Abolish Presidential Terms (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the nod-and-smile dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Negative social media reactions in China toward the government's interest in abolishing presidential term limits have sparked a crackdown on memes since Sunday evening. China's constitution currently restricts the president and vice-president to 10 years of leadership, meaning that President Xi Jinping would have been out of power by 2023. The Party's Central Committee proposed removing a phrase in the constitution that stated the two leaders would "serve no more than two consecutive terms," according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. Authorities will vote on the proposal in March. Many took to social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo with Winnie the Pooh memes, as the animated bear resembles President Xi Jinping to some degree. Winnie the Pooh has been associated with Xi for years and this week, he donned a crown and sat on a throne, enjoying his honey pot. These memes and social media posts were then taken down, hours after the Committee's announcement, signaling that the public's reaction was more unfavorable than authorities predicted. An assortment of phrases have been filtered out by new censors, including "constitution amendment," "re-elected," "proclaim oneself as emperor," and "two term limit." The lag time between the censorship and the initial proposal indicates authorities expected the public to react less critically.

20 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Abolish terms?? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

    Of course they do! There's always one candidate on the ballot, and you only get to vote if you're a ranking Party member. But it's an election, eh?

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  2. Re:Abolish terms?? by Leninix · · Score: 2

    It's not real election, you could only choise from communist party selected official.

  3. Re:Water is wet by Gilgaron · · Score: 2

    It's still an interesting change, if they declared him Emperor with an heir and everything it would still be totalitarian yet notable.

  4. term limits are more than just a limit by nimbius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they are an international banner of confidence in your ruling party and the structure of your government. See, they act as a sort of tacit checks-and-balances against entrench-able things like perpetual rent-seeking, cronyism, and the types of long-running blood feuds that plague monarchical institutions like Saudi Arabia. Your best case scenario is that the policy your party seeks to advance is carried through without the dependency of a figurehead. Candidly, Nixon hated blacks and jews, but public policy for medicare and construction funding didnt become contingent upon an antisemites judgement of 3/5ths of a man.
     
    Once you abolish the term limit, you quietly acknowledge that any policy now has an implicit dependency on a single person. You have created a choke point in the governance of your nation.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:term limits are more than just a limit by swb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There's obviously a lot to criticize in Chinese government and politics, but the CCP's 2 term limit was actually a reasonable way of signaling that while the party wasn't willing to give up their monopoly on control they also recognized the risks and danger of cult-of-personality and dynasty and was actually interested in a rational leadership selection process.

      "We're totalitarians, but its a system designed to prevent any one person from becoming dictator for life".

      The fact that they are scrapping it is interesting. I'm torn between this being a naked power grab by Xi because he wants to be dictator for life, or of this is some kind of recognition that China has many problems of an existential risk nature and that they need Xi.

      But it's not clear if this is because those threats (like corruption) are real or if Xi has just convinced them they are real and he's the only guy who can deal with them.

    2. Re:term limits are more than just a limit by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      No country needs any one man. Or if they do, allow me to refer them to the sound business advice given by my former boss: "If your company ever becomes dependent on one person... fire him".

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. Meh. That's just China for you by WindBourne · · Score: 2

    No doubt we will see the paid trolls come here today and defend Chinese gov on this . Mao, part 2, here we come.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  6. Re:On that note: by JBMcB · · Score: 2

    What do you think will happen at the end of Trump's second term?

    That's what Republicans said about Bill Clinton. That's what Democrats said about George W. Bush. That's what Republicans said about Barack Obama.

    I guess it's a "scary" question if you are too young to remember all the other times people have asked it.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  7. Re:On that note: by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Really?

    http://news.gallup.com/poll/16...

    Polls suggest they are on the side of the majority on gun control.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  8. Re:Consider his age by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Aren't there some South American countries where even the topic of no limit on terms is outlawed? And I don't mean in the Chinese sense that criticism is censored, I mean in the sense of a constitutional rule that says any politician who proposes it (formally or informally) is automatically ejected from office; all the judge needs to do is establish that they did in fact propose a removal of term limits.
    Seems like a sensible precaution.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  9. No, he's a typical Communist by alternative_right · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Xi is a fucking fa[s]cist.

    He's doing what all Communists do. A Right-wing regime may jail you for attacking the regime, but the Leftists will jail you for not being enthusiastic enough in your support of the People's Revolution.

    --
    Alternative Right.
    1. Re: No, he's a typical Communist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      And you clearly don't know the difference between a regular Scotsman and a True Scotsman.

    2. Re: No, he's a typical Communist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well gee, I wonder why? Have you ever noticed that the Communists, who are supposed to be all about equality for all, keep setting up dictatorships? Oh, they're not TRUE Communists or whatever, sure, but they make Communist noises and get the Communist-leaning masses to support them because "it'll be better for everyone" so whatever.

      It's funny how they keep using such an unequal government to establish "equality" no? This is why most Communist revolutions fail. Instead of setting up a more-equal government, like democracy, where the power is spread out rather than one guy being dictator for life, they keep doing power grabs to seize private property to "equalize" things, never mind the unequal government.

      The few places this sort of thing almost worked were oil-supported states where the government could just distribute the oil money to everyone--a pretty reasonable idea, actually. Of course, Venezuela then failed because corruption led to the loss of said oil money and they're going down the drain quickly now. Our Nordic friends happened to invest their money in the stock market, so they're probably better protected against such a failure mode, but you see how much more pragmatic that decision was. They're so far just about the only experiment to get things right.

  10. US Censors attempt to temper Russiagate hysteria by anyaristow · · Score: 2

    The guy who exposed the Russian troll farm in 2015 thinks the hysteria is overblown. If you report on that you get your live streaming ability cut.

    https://youtu.be/m6IeEldlcFE

  11. Re:Typical Leftist Behavior (TLB). by frazamatazzle · · Score: 2

    Found the dumbass

  12. Xi does not have to be the "official" President by SysEngineer · · Score: 2

    What many western people do not understand that in China's politics, often the true leader does not have to be the "official" leader. That is why I do not think Xi will have a third term, he does not need to be official the still maintain control. One reason for Xi to have a third term is "war". China would need a popular and strong President to be able to maintain social order is rough times.
    This action of removing term limits may be an indication that China is expecting a confrontation in the 2020s and they are preparing the government for the possibility.

    Efficiency wins in economics. So which governance model is more efficient? Corporations fight to control the government or the government controlling the corporations? Which is America and which is China?

    1. Re:Xi does not have to be the "official" President by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      It took Mao 20 years to unify the country. It took Deng Xiaoping 20 years to revolutionize the economic system. The common thought is it might be a good idea to give Papa Xi 20 years to really bring the economy into the first world.

      No one knows for sure if that's a good idea or not, and obviously to western sensibilities it looks dangerous, but that is the common reasoning. Hopefully it works out for them.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  13. Re:On that note: by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Him going for a second term? Could you point to anyone who wants that?

    Trump? He didn't even want a first term. He wanted a scandal to promote the media outlet he planned to spawn from the hype around it.
    Republicans? The GOP wants to get rid of Trump more than the Dems could even want to, the problem is they can't simply say that they want to get rid of the annoying orange.

    So who would want to see him a second time? Let alone a third one.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  14. Re:Enjoy your Strawman? by sycodon · · Score: 2

    Holy Fuck.

    You just made the AC's point.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  15. Re:On that note: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's some interesting revisionist history you have there. I remember the polls putting Clinton as winning by a wide margin. Could you remind me who won?

    A fun little article if you think I'm wrong, feel free to post your evidence to counter mine if you'd like.

    https://www.npr.org/2016/1https://www.npr.org/2016/11/14/502014643/4-possible-reasons-the-polls-got-it-so-wrong-this-year1/14/502014643/4-possible-reasons-the-polls-got-it-so-wrong-this-year

    And I didn't hyperlink it for a reason, I don't like hidden links for fear of phishing/drive by malware/etc.