Aboluowang published a commentary article in which it reported that any speculation that Xi Jinping might push for a term change during the upcoming central committee plenary session might have come from Jiang’s faction for the purpose of creating negative media trouble for Xi.
According to the article, the second plenary session of the 19th Party Central Committee will be held from Jan. 18 to 19 in Beijing. The major agenda of the meeting will be to make small changes in the constitution. A number of different media outlets, including Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg News, and Mingbao speculated that Xi Jinping might want to incorporate a change in the term limit for the Presidency into the constitution because he has apprehended large number of corrupt officials and, during his term, has touched the core interest of Jiang’s faction. Once his term ends, he and his family could face danger. However, based on Xinhua’s report that there will be a small change made to the constitution during the plenary session, it is unlikely that a change in the term limit will be made this time. It is likely that some additional “Xi Jinping Thought,” which was added into party constitution last year, could be included in the constitution this time. The Aboluowang commentary suggested that the Chinese Communist Party always plays black box politics and there has been no defined rule regarding its succession plan. There can be many different forms if one wishes to stay in power, just as how Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin continued to exercise their influence after they stepped down from their post. Currently Xi’s control over power is not yet complete. It is unlikely for him to push for a term change and invite more trouble for himself. Therefore the faction that Jiang leads could have made up much of the speculation out there in order to create negative media trouble for Xi.
Source: Aboluowang, January 14, 2018
http://www.aboluowang.com/2018/0114/1054494.html