{"id":241809,"date":"2022-07-14T19:28:25","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T02:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=241809"},"modified":"2022-09-09T18:06:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T01:06:26","slug":"a-critique-of-japans-proposed-constitutional-reforms-morphs-into-comments-section-referendum-on-xi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2022\/07\/a-critique-of-japans-proposed-constitutional-reforms-morphs-into-comments-section-referendum-on-xi\/","title":{"rendered":"A Critique of Japan\u2019s Proposed Constitutional Reforms Morphs into \u201cComments-Section Referendum\u201d on Xi"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Chinese government official\u2019s Weibo post lecturing Japan about the danger of amending its constitution\u2014standard nationalist fare on the microblogging site\u2014turned into a forum for criticizing <\/span>a 2018 Chinese constitutional amendment<\/span><\/a> that opened the door for Xi Jinping to remain in the presidency for life. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian posted <\/span>a Chinese-language Global Times editorial<\/span><\/a> titled \u201cAmending the Japanese Constitution is a Pandora\u2019s Box, a Recipe for Disaster.\u201d The article warned against <\/span>a proposed amendment<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>Article 9 of Japan\u2019s pacifist 1947 constitution<\/span><\/a> that would establish the constitutionality of Japan\u2019s Self-Defense Forces. The amendment was a central plank in the political platform of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was <\/span>assassinated while campaigning last week<\/span><\/a>. Just two days after Abe\u2019s death, his political party, the Liberal Democratic Party, won a large majority in parliamentary elections, <\/span>potentially opening the door for constitutional revisions<\/span><\/a>. The Global Times editorial warned against rising \u201cmilitarism\u201d in Japan and inveighed against the country \u201cleveraging the Ukraine conflict to \u2018<\/span>commit eggshell extortion<\/span><\/a>\u2019 over the Taiwan issue.\u201d The editorial also accused the United States of being a shadow partner in Japan\u2019s amendment drive: \u201cJapan wouldn\u2019t have the nerve to go through with this amendment without America\u2019s permission.\u201d (The amendment does have many backers in American political circles, and even the influential Washington Post editorial board <\/span>has published an opinion piece<\/span><\/a> urging U.S. policy makers to support the amendment.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of latching onto standard nationalist talking points, a number of Weibo users instead decided to point out the hypocrisy of the Global Times article that Zhao had shared. China amended its constitution in 2018 to abolish presidential term limits, a move that paved the way for Xi to remain in power beyond 2022. Criticism of the amendment was, and remains, heavily censored. <\/span>Terms such as<\/span><\/a> \u201cascend the throne,\u201d \u201cchairman + for life system,\u201d \u201cYuan Shikai,\u201d and \u201ccrooked-neck tree\u201d have been erased from the Chinese internet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometime this fall, the Chinese Communist Party will convene its 20th National Party Congress. Xi is <\/span>widely expected<\/span><\/a> to remain in power for a third term, a tenure unprecedented in China\u2019s post-reform-and-opening era. His predicted reappointment as president has been accompanied by a burgeoning personality cult. <\/span>A 2021 \u201cresolution on history,\u201d<\/span><\/a> only the third of its kind in the Party\u2019s history, <\/span>cemented Xi as \u201cthe core.\u201d<\/span><\/a> In recent months, provincial officials jockeying for promotions have competed to heap fulsome praise on Xi, <\/span>hailing him<\/span><\/a> as a \u201cbeacon,\u201d a \u201ccompass,\u201d and a \u201cfulcrum,\u201d possessing \u201ckeen insight into every matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet as evidenced by <\/span>the comments section of Zhao Lijian\u2019s Weibo post<\/strong><\/a> warning about the \u201cPandora\u2019s box\u201d of constitutional amendments, not all are so enamored with Xi:<\/span><\/p>\n

********\uff1a\u201cBrother, best not mention it, but didn\u2019t China also\u2026 [doge]\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

********\uff1a\u201cDidn\u2019t we also\u2026\u201d <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u86cb******\u4f60\uff1aYou sure got that right.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span> CaiHouLang: Fecal Times: \u201cAmending the Chinese Constitution is a Pandora\u2019s Box, a Recipe for Unchecked Power.\u201d [<\/span>
Chinese<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The comments section was soon locked, deleted, and \u201crestocked\u201d with comments imbued with <\/span>positive energy<\/span><\/a>. The top post after the change read, \u201cThank you, Mr. Zhao! Got it. \ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4d\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Chinese government official\u2019s Weibo post lecturing Japan about the danger of amending its constitution\u2014standard nationalist fare on the microblogging site\u2014turned into a forum for criticizing a 2018 Chinese constitutional amendment that opened the door for Xi Jinping to remain in the presidency for life. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian posted a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1093,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[99,116,14744,100,5,4202],"tags":[18015,2860,5918,17495,15349,1434,1343,758,70,1922,14855,17964,2949,15029,3849,17918,4674],"class_list":["post-241809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cdt-highlights","category-world","category-level-2-article","category-politics","category-society","category-translation","tag-20th-party-congress","tag-amendment","tag-anti-japan","tag-ccp-constitution","tag-ccp-leadership","tag-china-and-japan","tag-china-japan","tag-constitution","tag-japan","tag-japan-military","tag-ministry-of-foreign-affairs","tag-netizen-comments","tag-party-politics","tag-political-humor","tag-shinzo-abe","tag-weibo-censorship","tag-xi-jinping","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nA Critique of Japan\u2019s Proposed Constitutional Reforms Morphs into \u201cComments-Section Referendum\u201d on Xi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2022\/07\/a-critique-of-japans-proposed-constitutional-reforms-morphs-into-comments-section-referendum-on-xi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Critique of Japan\u2019s Proposed Constitutional Reforms Morphs into \u201cComments-Section Referendum\u201d on Xi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Chinese government official\u2019s Weibo post lecturing Japan about the danger of amending its constitution\u2014standard nationalist fare on the microblogging site\u2014turned into a forum for criticizing a 2018 Chinese constitutional amendment that opened the door for Xi Jinping to remain in the presidency for life. 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