General Secretary of the CCP(no term limit) is the top leader, The president of the PRC is the ceremonial head of state of the PRC, So the president's two-term limit removed in 2018 is not important, just like the Queen of England(ceremonial head of state) has not term limit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_People%27s_Re...

Because Communist countries tend to have very messy transfers of power, if not through continuity or annointment of a new leader by the old?

And by messy I mean armed forces involvement and/or bodies in the streets.

China has had a decent track record, they are well organized. If Xi truly believed in China, then he would make it a priority to facilitate a smooth transition of power, and to enable the leader after their ascension. I really don't think this is much of an excuse for him.

The story is really simple - CCP wants to forbid any private control of information, that's it. It's not a new concept.

The Deng -> Zhao -> Jiang -> Hu years weren't very clean, and did have military involvement and civilian deaths.