This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

As ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping prepares to seek an unprecedented third term in office, three veteran party members have spoken out against the ongoing centralization of power and signs of a personality cult around the general secretary.

An open letter jointly penned by CCP elders Dong Hongyi, Ma Guiquan and Tian Qizhuang calls on the party to amend its charter, deleting the phrase “the party will lead in everything,” which it criticizes as granting “unlimited power” to the ruling party.

“This phrase first appeared during the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong’s instructions so as to restore order as soon as possible … but has no wider meaning,” the letter, posted by the rights website Weiquanwang, said.

“There is no similar expression in the Marxist-Leninist classics or in the [principles of] reform and opening up [under late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping],” it said.

“The main problem country faces today is that party committees have too much power, and their reach is overly long,” the letter said, accusing the CCP of mission creep and “tilling other people’s land.”