Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1103-W739

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1103-W739

Release Date: April 29, 2018

发布日：2018年4月29日

Topic: About Xi Jinping Amending the Chinese Constitution to be the 2nd Yuan Shikai -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：评袁二修宪-- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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About Xi Jinping Amending the Chinese Constitution to be the 2nd Yuan Shikai

-- Wei Jingsheng

Recently, humorous netizens gave Xi Jinping a new nickname that sounds very appropriate: the Yuan Shikai II. This is in response to the recent proposal of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to lift the term limit of the Chinese presidency. Although Chinese newspapers have made all sorts of eloquent explanations, almost everyone has recognized it as the restoration of the tenure and authoritarianism of the Mao Zedong era.

Some friends may ask: didn't Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao also have dictatorial leadership? But it was only a limited dictatorship. Someone called it an authoritarian system or an oligarchic system. There is a big difference from a veritable personal dictatorship. Even for Yuan Shikai, when he claimed to be an emperor and attempted to implement personal dictatorship, he still failed.

Some people ironically stated that Xi Jinping wants to be an emperor. Actually, the ancient imperial power system in China was not a dictatorship. The emperor needed to listen to the opinions and debates during the ministerial meetings. The emperor was only the referee. Sometimes it was just like the Western Parliaments that do not see a justified result until after years of debates. The purpose was to make fewer mistakes and brainstorm everyone.

Why do people want dictatorship when they have too much power? It may be a person's nature, or bad nature. A person would feel everything is much easier to decide on his own, instead of being negotiated with everyone. Under the premise of institutional restrictions, the person has to discuss everything with everyone. Once he has enough power, he does not want others to deny his will. This is the tendency of dictatorship in human nature. It has been in existence since the monkey era.

Of course, to let dad and mom take some dictatorial measures are not as problematic. By the time the child grows up and goes to school, they could not do much. However, when dad and mom work for a company, they better discuss issues with others, or otherwise they may even face bankruptcy. One could obviously see the evil consequences of dictatorship. When a dictatorship rises to the national and social level, the evil consequences are even more common. Therefore, since ancient times people have been thinking, exploring, and experimenting to see if there is any way to limit this unavoidable inadequacy in human nature.

One of the important things in American democracy is the term of office. It is equivalent to forcing the leaders to step down and run for re-election, thus enabling the voters to constantly examine whether the leaders are qualified. If it is not in the law for the leader to step down regularly, a leader or party in power can easily unite together and fight against new competitors. Such a system is obviously unfair and will soon lead to the formation of autocratic dictatorship.

The democracy established by Americans has also created a more important precedent, which is that a person can hold no more than 2 terms of the presidency. After being a president for many years, one's power and contacts are not comparable to ordinary competitors. Without imposed restrictions, it would be difficult to avoid indefinite re-election with the result of a return to autocratic dictatorship. The excessively strong presidential clique would result in no supervision system being functional. The history of ancient Rome from democracy to the election of the emperor was very clear.

Some friends may question if it is that serious. There are still five years for Xi to get into his third term. It is not certain that he will be able to get re-elected at that time. This is exactly where the problem is. Why did the ancient Chinese make the legitimacy of the emperor to be undisputable? It was precisely to avoid a fierce battle that could lead to the collapse of society. At that time, due to class, religion, and ethnic issues, society was unable to implement democracy normally. The lack of legitimacy led to a combination of blood lineage with small-scale democracy and a wide range of authoritarianism, resulting in a legitimacy that was maintained by relying on violence.

The current system in China has clearly stated that it is a democratic system, yet what it practices is one-party dictatorship. This is self-contradictory at the first level. In Mao Zedong's era, the consequences are well known when it turned the one-party dictatorship into a personal dictatorship. It was a coup d'état after the death of the dictator Mao that returned China back to the so-called "collective leadership" of authoritarian politics.

When Xi Jinping wants to return to the Mao Zedong era, he will pay a greater price than the Mao era did. To put it another way, like the Cultural Revolution, it will not be enough to send only a handful of officials and imperial scholars into prison. Xi Jinping will need more cruel means and an even wider range of attacks to reach a new personal dictatorship.

Original link of the RFA commentary:

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-04112018093055.html

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-02282018122800.html

(Written and recorded on February 27, 2018. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1103-W739

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1103-W739

Release Date: April 29, 2018

发布日：2018年4月29日

Topic: About Xi Jinping Amending the Chinese Constitution to be the 2nd Yuan Shikai -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：评袁二修宪-- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2018/report2018-04/WeiJS180429onXiJPbecomesYuanSK2A1103-W739.htm

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评袁二修宪

-- 魏京生

最近幽默的网民给习近平起了个新的外号，听起来蛮贴切的，叫做袁二。意思是袁世凯二世。这是针对最近中共中央委员会建议，取消国家主席任期限制。尽管中国的报纸做了种种诡辩式的解释，几乎所有人都一眼就看出来了，这就是恢复毛泽东时代的终身制和独裁制。

有朋友问：前面的邓小平、江泽民和胡锦涛不也是独裁制吗？那只是有限的独裁，有人管那个叫做威权制或者寡头制，和名副其实的个人独裁还是有很大的区别。即使袁世凯，也是在他称帝的时候企图实行个人独裁，而且还败了。

有人讽刺说习近平想当皇帝，其实中国古代的皇权体制也不是独裁，皇帝也需要听取大臣会议的意见和辩论，皇帝只是主裁判而已。有时候也和西方的议会一样，辩论多年才辩出个结果。为的就是少出差错，集思广益。

为什么人的权力大了就想独裁呢？这可能是人的一种本性，或者说是劣根性。总觉得事事都和人商量，不如自己一个人说了算痛快。在有制度限制的前提下，不得不和大家商量着办。一旦权力大了，就不想让别人否定自己的意志了。这就是人性中的独裁专制倾向，从猴子那个时代就有了。

当然，在家里被老爸、老妈独裁专制一下问题不大，最多是上学去他们就管不着了。可是老爸老妈到公司和单位，还是要和大家商量着办，否则一着不慎就可能赔个倾家荡产。可见独裁专制的恶果显而易见。上升到国家和社会的层面，恶果更是屡见不鲜。所以自古以来人们就在思考、探索、和试验，看看有什么办法能限制人性中这个不可避免的劣根性。

美国人建立的民主之中有一条很重要，这就是任期限制。这一条等于让领导者定期下台，重新选举，可以不断让人民审查领导者是否合格。如果不能合法的让领导者定期下台，一个在台上的领导人或者党派，很容易拉帮结伙打击新的竞争者。这样的制度显然不公平，很快就会形成独裁专制。

美国人建立的民主还开创了一个更重要的先例，这就是总统连任不得超过两次。因为连续多年担任总统，权势、人脉都不是普通竞争者可以比拟的，如果不加限制，将很难避免无限期连任，结果又回到了独裁专制。因为过分强势的总统集团，使得任何监督体制都无法发挥作用。古罗马从民主制到选举出皇帝的历史，表现得就很清楚。

有朋友说：没那么严重吧，到习近平的第三个任期，还有五年呢，到那个时候他能不能连任都不一定。这正是问题所在。古代为什么让皇帝的合法性无可争议呢？这正是为了避免激烈的争斗导致社会的崩溃。那时候的社会由于阶级，宗教和种族的问题，无法正常实行民主制。合法性的缺失，导致了血统制加上小范围民主和大范围专制相结合，产生了依靠暴力维持的合法性。

中国现行的体制，写明了是民主制，实行的却是一党专制，这是第一层次的自相矛盾。毛泽东时代，从一党专制走向了个人独裁，其恶果众所周知。独裁者死后的一场政变，返回到了威权政治的所谓集体领导制。

习近平想回到毛泽东时代，就要付出比毛泽东时代更大的代价。换一个说法，像文革那样，仅仅把一部分官员和御用学者送进监狱，力度肯定不够了。他需要更残酷一些的手段和更大范围的打击，才能达成新的个人独裁。

魏京生在自由亚洲电台评论的原始链接：

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-02282018122800.html