President no more? A US bill would ban the title for China’s leader
- Under the Name the Enemy Act, Xi Jinping would no longer be called China’s president in any US government document
- While it follows remarks by US officials calling Xi general secretary, the legislation is not likely to come up for a vote this session
Lawmakers in Washington have introduced a bill to change the way the federal government refers to the leader of China, prohibiting the use of the term “president”.
The Name the Enemy Act would require that official US government documents instead refer to the head of state according to his or her role as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Chinese leader, currently Xi Jinping, holds three official titles, none of which is “president”: head of state (guojia zhuxi, literally “state chairman”); chairman of the central military commission; and general secretary of the CCP.
Yet the English-speaking world, including US President Donald Trump, has generally opted for “president”, which critics say offers unwarranted legitimacy to an unelected leader.
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“Addressing the head of state of the People’s Republic of China as a “president” grants the incorrect assumption that the people of the state, via democratic means, have readily legitimised the leader who rules them”, the legislation states.