Carl Minzner was quoted in a New York Times article about the current changing political landscape in China. China’s Communist Party recently announced that it intends to abolish term limits on the presidency, which will help President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely.
Mr. Xi already serves as the party’s general secretary and the military chief, positions with no term limits.
“This is the next step in the continuing breakdown of political norms that had held sway in China’s reform era,” said Carl Minzner, a professor of law at Fordham University in New York and author of a new book on Mr. Xi’s increasing authoritarianism.
“What are the risks of these shifts?” Professor Minzner said. “In the short term, all the traditional dangers that arise from the excessive centralization of power in the hands of one person. But in the long term, the real question is how far the breakdown in political norms could go.”