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.

>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.

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

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. :-)

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".