Will it be third term unlucky?

China has amended its constitution to allow Xi Jinping to remain president indefinitely. After Mao Zedong two terms in office has been the norm and Jinping's two predecessors appointed a successor during their second term in office. Jinping failed to name a successor during the last party congress in October last year, when his second term was confirmed. Changing constitution to hang on to power is not new. Hugo Chavez won a referendum to stand for a third term in 2009 after having lost a similar attempt in 2007. Elated with his popularity Chavez gradually destroyed the economy with his socialist policies. The currency has become worthless, one dollar fetches 191,000 bolivars. Last year one dollar was 3,100 bolivars. Inflation is over 4,000% and people have to find food in dustbins. More than 600,000 people have fled to Colombia, the largest refugee crisis in the history of South America. Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza  cheated his was to a third term, despite being forbidden by the constitution. He is now ruling through violence and is to hold a fraudulent referendum to consolidate his power. Xi Jinping is poised to join a long catalogue of villains who have changed the constitution to hang on the power. "Titles don't matter much in China as they do in the West. Here what matters is whether you are the emperor," said Prof Zhang Ming. "In China, ordinary people already consider Xi Jinping to be the emperor." People have been calling him 'mighty uncle Xi', which is apparently how they used to refer to emperors in the past. Couple of years back the Communist Party anointed him 'core leader', like Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin. In 2016 he donned a military uniform and made himself the commander in chief of the armed forces. Not everybody is a fan. China's social media is heavily censored so people resorted to oblique comments to show their opposition. Not content with complete dominance at home Xi Jinping hopes to subordinate the world. China is meddling in the internal affairs of other nations. In the guise of helping poorer nations China is becoming a colonial power in Africa, looting its resources and destroying economies by exporting cheap goods manufactured in China. The One Belt One Road plan is definitely a form of colonialism, feared S Sirohi. The more it flexes its muscle the more other countries plan resistance. The quadrilateral of the US, Australia, Japan and India has been revived. Trump is planning more tariffs on Chinese imports to reduce the trade deficit with that country. North Korea is signalling talks after Trump announced even tougher sanctions. Pressures from outside and enemies inside may puncture the might of the 'mighty uncle'. Third term is usually not lucky.