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Sunday 25 February 2018

China proposes to let Xi Jinping extend presidency beyond 2023 per BBC News

Imagine that a US President, one that the BBC hated, proposed changing electoral law allowing him to continue as President. What would be the reaction of the BBC? Outrage, protest and wailing about the iniquity of rewriting the law.

However when it's the Chinese President, the reporting is dry and not unsympathetic.

'China's governing Communist Party has proposed removing a clause in the constitution which limits presidencies service to two five-year terms.

The move would allow the current President Xi Jinping to remain as leader after he is due to step down.'

To be fair I believe that the BBC would have been broadly supportive of Barack Hussein Obama extending his presidency, for as long as he wanted.

One line that caught my eye was this one:

'Party congress last year saw him cement his status as the most powerful leader since the late Mao Zedong.'

Remind me how many Chinese people were killed by Mao's regime. Was it 50  million? More? Yet the BBC make no mention of the background around Mao's rule of China. No context, no lessons from history. Odd how the BBC insert assertions that Israeli settlements are illegal into practically any piece about Israel that they can shoehorn a reference to Israeli settlements into, but mention Mao and nothing at all. Would the BBC make such a bland reference to Adolf Hitler? Of course not but when it comes to communist mass murderers the BBC seem less exercised; why?

The BBC include this explanatory section:

'What do we know about the move?'

Which includes this line:

'The proposal will go before legislators at the annual full session of the National People's Congress which starts on 5 March.'

No mention of the lack of democracy in the 'elections' to the National People's Congress. The BBC obsess over whether President Donald Trump won the US Presidential election fairly but no mention of lack of democracy in China.

It's weird how the BBC accept a lack of democracy and the expansionism of The People's Republic of China but protest most anything that the elected President Donald Trump does.

The BBC article is here http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43188739

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