China to amend its Constitution for the fifth time

BEIJING, Mar 4 (APP):China is set to amend the country’s Constitution for the first time in 14 years – and the fifth time since 1982 – when the country’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), convenes for its annual session that starts on Monday.
At the first meeting of the first session of the 13th NPC, deputies will hear an explanation on the draft amendments, said Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for this year’s NPC, during a press conference here on Sunday.
Twenty-one items will be amended, including writing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and adding a sentence stressing the Party’s leadership to the Constitution, according to the proposal made public by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on February 25.
Furthermore, the proposal suggested listing a supervisory commission as a new state organ, as well as removing the expression that the president and vice president of China “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms.”
Zhang explained that the term limits are not applied to the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee as well as the chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission in the Party’s Constitution.
There are also no set term limits in China’s Constitution for the chairman of the Central Military Commission of the country, added Zhang.
He stressed that the revision will be conducive to strengthening and improving the national leadership system.