[mortenjorck]

I don't know if WaPo changed the headline or if this was an attempt to shorten it for HN, but the article currently has "could rule for life" rather than "to rule for life."

The latter may well happen, but at least for now, it's only the former.

[seanmcdirmid]

We really won’t know until Xi dies in office. Seeing as the NPC is just a rubber stamp congress, there are no other checks and balances on the core leader’s power except what happens between old men in smoky rooms. What will happen is entirely opaque.

[coldtea]

>We really won’t know until Xi dies in office.

We would also know if he is replaced 5-10 years down the line while still very much alive.

[seanmcdirmid]

Sure, I was talking about the if true happens case.

[Jesus_Jones]

It's at least true for the foreseeable future that he'll be the leader. Just like you don't know if a current relationship will persist through the end of your lives until one of you dies. :-)

[dang]

We've changed the title above to the article's HTML doc title.

Submitted title here was "With a dash of Putin and an echo of Mao, China’s Xi to rule for life".