Chinese Political History II: Chapter 7, Exercise 1 — Possible Solution
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TASK
Explain why the state's rationale makes the amendment a change to one post
and not to the leader's power in general, and say whether that makes the
change smaller or larger than it looks.

ANSWER

WHY ONE POST
The rationale reported by state media was to align three top positions:
party general secretary, state president and Central Military Commission
chairman. The other two, the summary says, already had no formal term
restriction. Only the presidency had a written two-term limit in Article 79.

SMALLER THAN IT LOOKS
The leader's most important posts (party and military) were never limited
by the constitution's text. The presidency was mostly a formal post
(Chapter 2). So removing the limit did not add a new power.

LARGER THAN IT LOOKS
It removed the one written end date attached to the leader's tenure, so the
combined arrangement of three posts no longer had any. It also signalled
that the earlier practice of handing over all three at about the same time
(Chapter 4) was no longer required.

CONCLUSION
Both are true: small in legal power, large as a signal.