China’s emphasis since Deng on rule by consensus may not have made the country any more democratic, but it at least prevented the re-emergence of a new cult of personality à la Mao Zedong. The question today is whether Xi’s flouting of this internal party convention is another step in re-creating one-man – and thus completely arbitrary – rule in China.
自邓小平以来，中国就强调根据共识治国，这或许并没有让中国变得更加民主，但至少防止了毛泽东式个人崇拜的卷土重来。现在的问题是，习近平打破党内常规的做法是否是在中国重建独夫治国——从而实现彻底独裁的又一步骤。