Xi is president for life: Trump

Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump appeared to praise Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s efforts to extend his tenure in a speech to donors, according to a recording released by CNN.
“Don’t forget China’s great and Xi is a great gentleman. He’s now president for life,” Trump told Republican backers. The crowd erupted in laughter in response to the remarks made at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The remarks come as China’s national parliament gathers in Beijing for two weeks of meetings expected to culminate in Xi’s appointment to a second term and a constitutional change allowing him to stay on indefinitely. The Communist Party announced the planned amendment February 25, in a surprising break with succession practices set up after Mao Zedong’s fraught tenure.
“And look, he was able to do that,” Trump said. “I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll give that a shot some day,” he said, prompting more laughter. The White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The comments could add another source of tension between the world’s two largest economies days after Trump pledged to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, fanning fears of a trade war. The plan to repeal term limits has prompted unusually open expressions of dissent in China.
Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for China’s National People’s Congress, sidestepped a question at the legislature’s opening news conference on Sunday about whether Xi would stay on “forever.”
Zhang said repealing term limits was necessary to preserve unified leadership, since Xi’s other two titles — party leader and military chief — don’t face similar restrictions.
“It is conducive to upholding the authority of Central Committee of the Communist Party, with Xi Jinping at its core,” Zhang said.