Xi praises CPC rule, says multi-party democracy promotes nasty competition

The system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) is "a great contribution to political civilisation of humanity," Xi told delegates from some of the small political parties which functioned in low key manner under the shadows of the CPC.

The Chinese system is new, Xi said, because it unites all political parties and people without party affiliation toward a common goal, effectively preventing the flaws of the absence of oversight in one-party rule, or "power rotation and nasty competition among multiple political parties," state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

It steers away from another weakness of the old-fashioned party system, in which decision making and governance, confined by interests of different political parties, classes, regions and groups, tears the society apart, he said.

Chinese leaders in the past have vowed not to ape the western political systems.

Xi was speaking at a joint panel discussion on Sunday with "political advisors" from the China Democratic League and the China Zhi Gong Party, those without party affiliation and those from the sector of returned overseas Chinese, at the first session of the advisory body the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the Xinhua report said.

His comments came as the Chinese Parliament, the National People s Congress (NPC), began its two week long annual session on Monday with a legislative agenda which included ratifying a constitutional amendment removing the two-term rule for the President and Vice President.

The rule followed by the CPC for over two decades to prevent dictatorial ruler emerging from the ranks as well as to promote collective leadership effectively removes the last hurdle for 64-year-old Xi to continue beyond the end of his second term in 2023 and possibly for life.

Xi is already regarded as the most powerful leader of China after Chairman Mao Zedong as he held the posts of head of the CPC, the military and the Presidency. The NPC was also expected to endorse another draft constitutional amendment to enshrine Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the fundamental law.

This would ensure that Xi's name is written into the Constitution making him on par with Mao.

The draft suggests Xi Jinping thought be juxtaposed with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and the Theory of Three Represents as a new guiding theory in the preamble of the Constitution, Xinhua said.

The name of Xi and his thought figured numerous times in the annual work report read out Premier Li Keqiang on Monday at the opening session of the NPC.