The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held behind closed doors in Beijing today. On the same day, a joint appeal led by Peking University and more than 10 key Chinese universities, signed by "undergraduates and graduate students in colleges and universities," appeared in forums at Peking University and other universities. The statement called for the abolition of the indefinite extension of the presidential term, the restoration of term limits specified in the Chinese Constitution, and the initiation of democratic constitutional amendments. However, most of the posts were deleted within a very short period of time. Screenshots of each school's post page were then uploaded to the dark web "Free Nation" forum. They were quickly forwarded by netizens and Chinese students at home and abroad, and quickly spread to overseas social platforms.
This appeal puts forward three expectations before the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the CCP commemorating the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sun Wen, including the abolition of the indefinite extension system for national leaders, the restoration of term limits clearly stipulated in the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China", and the establishment of clear term norms for the party's top leadership positions; the launch of democratic constitutional amendments, the convening of a national constitutional amendment conference, and the improvement of election, supervision and recall mechanisms; and ensuring the space for citizens to discuss state affairs in accordance with the law.
The document cites the context within the CCP system. In addition to quoting Sun Yat-sen's oath announcing his resignation when he became the interim president in 1912, it also quotes Mao Zedong's words in the "cave dwellings" in 1945: "Only when the people supervise the government, the government will not dare to relax." , as well as Deng Xiaoping's 1980 discussion on the reform of the leadership system, and even emphasized that China's 1982 Constitution established that national leadership positions should not serve more than two consecutive terms, saying that "these words are all said by the party itself."
The statement pointed out that in 2018, China deleted the stipulation in the Constitution that the president and vice president should not serve more than two consecutive terms, which confused and disturbed students. Students believe that "we know that the country needs stability and development needs continuity, but stability should come from the predictability of the system rather than reliance on individuals." He called on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to demonstrate "self-revolution" and allow "power to be limited and subject to supervision." He also emphasized that Article 41 of the Constitution gives citizens the right to criticize and make suggestions. The students suggested that exercising this right in accordance with the constitution is "out of the simplest love for this country." The statement concluded by emphasizing that "there is no intention to confront, let alone create confrontation."
In March 2018, China amended its constitution to delete the requirement that the president and vice president should not serve more than two consecutive terms. An official statement at the time stated that this move would be conducive to safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee and centralized and unified leadership. According to outside observations, power has been increasingly concentrated in General Secretary Xi Jinping in recent years, and the tradition of collective leadership has been weakened. The agenda of this plenary session includes the Politburo's report to the Central Committee and the study of major issues related to persistently promoting comprehensive and strict governance of the party. The timing is equally intriguing. November 12 marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen. Chinese officials have prepared to expand commemorative activities at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas. Sun Yat-sen has been designated as "the great pioneer of China's democratic revolution" and an important agenda for the annual united front against Taiwan.
Analysts pointed out that it is a rare situation since the June 4th incident in 1989 for Chinese university students to openly and collectively sign such political demands across campuses, and it has obvious symbolic significance. However, the post was quickly deleted and could only be circulated through screenshots, which also shows that the space for such demands in China is extremely limited. It remains to be seen whether the co-signers will be interviewed or otherwise dealt with in the future.
