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According to this article:

China has approved the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life.

I'd like to know if there is a mechanism in China's Constitution that allows the removal of the president from office. If yes, under what conditions?

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    China's Constitution is a very different thing than the America's Constitution. They may have some of the same phrases, but that's just not how China works to begin with. Check out the Democracy Index. The US is classified as 25th, a Flawed Democracy, while China is 153rd, an Authoritarian.
    – Nelson
    Jan 25, 2021 at 2:51
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    To me it seems like the most obvious way to get rid of him would be not to reelect him - they removed the term limit, they didn't abolish presidential elections.
    – Nobody
    Jan 25, 2021 at 15:29
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    @Nobody Since the government also controls the media and censors the Internet, it can be difficult for a campaign to unseat the President to gain traction.
    – Barmar
    Jan 25, 2021 at 15:54
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    And in authoritarian regimes, elections tend to be just for show.
    – Barmar
    Jan 25, 2021 at 15:54
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    @Nobody A general quality of authoritarian regimes is that even though they may have laws that appear democratic, in practice the people are not able to exercise these powers. And the irony is that they often put "Democratic" in the official country name. A key word in the article is "effectively".
    – Barmar
    Jan 25, 2021 at 16:24

1 Answer 1

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Yes, Article 63

Article 63

The National People’s Congress shall have the power to remove from office the following personnel:

(1) the president and the vice president of the People’s Republic of China;

...

So the annual NPC can remove the President, by simple majority vote.

https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/images/basiclaw_full_text_en.pdf

However, "President" is de facto a secondary role to the real position of leadership: General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. In the PRC, if you lead the Communist party and the Army, you lead the country. (Case in point: Deng Xiaoping)

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    Of course, you wouldn't want to be the one proposing an impeachment vote unless you were sure it was going to pass. I imagine that the Chinese president could do nasty things to whoever voted against them if they retained their position.
    – nick012000
    Jan 25, 2021 at 12:25
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    Depending on OP's intention, this answer could be defeated if there is something else that allows Xi to simply sidestep the process, e.g. if another article gives him the power to keep firing those who would lead such an impeachment inquiry, or similar lateral "solutions" to the problem of being impeached.
    – Flater
    Jan 25, 2021 at 15:37
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    Many comments are assuming the Chinese president is the one with the most powers... It may be true now, but it is not necessarily true. Of all the titles Mr Xi holds, Presidency of the PRC is the least powerful one.
    – xngtng
    Jan 25, 2021 at 20:04
  • That is a very good point, and one I will address.
    – James K
    Jan 25, 2021 at 20:08
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    @Hobbamok Technically the president doesn't hold much power. So probably nobody thought this is that important. But it has evolved in a way that the person who holds the most power always end up also becoming the president.
    – user23013
    Jan 29, 2021 at 8:22

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