When China's Communist Party Congress revealed no clear successor to President Xi Jinping in October 2017, it only fueled suspicions that Xi might be intending to outlast the traditional 10-year, two-term limits that come with China's presidency and vice presidency. On Feb. 25, these suspicions were confirmed when the Party moved to abolish those term limits , paving the way for 64-year-old Xi to potentially stay in power beyond 2023. Removing presidential term limits is one of the final steps in the Chinese leader's plan to consolidate political power . Though Xi could have followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, and exerted his power indirectly through other Party members, he has made the decision to avoid the substantial political costs that come with that. Instead, Xi is using China's legal foundations to strengthen state functionality and legitimize his attempt to recentralize bureaucratic authority.