China told to follow the leader Xi Jinping in thought, word and deed

The Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, has kicked off a potentially momentous political summit in Beijing by instructing Communist party officials to “resolutely uphold” the primacy of president Xi Jinping and follow their sovereign in thought, word and deed.

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Speaking at the opening of the fortnight-long national people’s congress – at which Xi looks set to establish himself as ruler for life – Li urged his country’s political elite to fall in line behind a leader now considered China’s most dominant since Mao.

“Entering a new era … we must resolutely uphold the core position of Xi Jinping,” Li told the nearly 3,000 delegates who had packed into the vast scarlet-carpeted auditorium of the Great Hall of the People.

Last week it emerged that Xi, 64, would attempt to use this year’s congress to abolish presidential term limits, a highly controversial move that paves the way for him to reign for decades to come.

In a speech peppered with adulatory allusions to China’s ascendant leader, Li signalled thsat delegates should back those proposals when they are put to the vote on Sunday.

He urged cadres to gain “a good command of Xi Jinping’s major policy addresses”, to “firmly uphold the guiding position of Xi Jinping’s thinking on strengthening the armed forces” and to “act on Xi Jinping’s economic thinking for ‘new era socialism’ with Chinese characteristics”.

He praised “the strong leadership of the party central committee” with Xi at its core helping China overcome “a stream of risks and challenges” since he took power in 2012.

Announcing plans to grow the Chinese economy by 6.5% this year, Li also urged delegates to back Xi’s “inspiring blueprint” for China and his “three critical battles” - fighting economic and financial risks, extreme poverty and pollution.

“Unity gives us strength,” Li concluded to applause.

Predictably, Li’s 105-minute address contained no mention of the outcry Xi’s bid to scrap term limits has stirred, particularly among liberals who fear a return to Mao-style despotism.

However, perhaps hinting at such unease, China’s premier told the 2,970 delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People: “Power cannot be used as one pleases; the exercise of power must be supervised … Decisions will be made in a sound and democratic way on the basis of law, and before making decisions on any major issue related to public interests, we will solicit input, including criticism, from all parties.”

Orville Schell, a China expert who has been visiting the country since the Mao era, said Xi’s power play was part of a global shift back towards strongman rule.

“We used to have such leaders back in the good old days when there was Ho Chi Minh, Stalin, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, Charles de Gaulle. People who had lifetime sinecures. Enver Pasha. Ceaușescu. Then we drifted off into this sort of wan land of bureaucratic leaders,” Schell said.

“Now we seem to be back in the kind of Big Leader Couture era around the world.”

Carl Minzner, the author of a new book about China’s authoritarian revival, said: “In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, China moved out of the Maoist era and away from one-man rule to collective leadership. It moved away from cult of personality towards an effort to rule China through more stable, bureaucratic norms. What’s happening now is that those things are beginning to buckle.”

At the congress’ opening session, delegate after delegate refused to wade into the highly sensitive debate on term limits. “Sorry,” said one, in English.

Some, however, were openly supportive. Ding Zhaomin, a delegate from Jilin province, said: “I’ll vote for it ... It’s not good if a policy is enacted in the morning and cancelled in the evening.”

“In some foreign countries a policy that is not completed in one president’s term will stop during the next president’s term. What advantages are there to that? None.”

Cai Xue’en, from Hubei, said he also backed a proposal which reflected the “voices of the people”. “If I had the chance to say one sentence to President Xi, I would say this: ‘Hello President Xi. To get China to where it is today, you must have worked really hard,’” added Cai, 52.