Fair enough, brother. I want to add that I don't want Xi to rule until he dies (like Mao or even Deng), but I do think he needs a third term to ensure that necessary reforms are enacted, the BRI has good momentum, the military is cleaned of corruption and strengthened, etc.
I will admit, this news makes me somewhat nervous as well. Having this much power concentrated into the hands of one man carries the potential for harm, even if that man is a saint. But I believe Xi is well-intentioned, and if this amendment is so opposed by the Chinese people then it wouldn't pass, since the instability it would cause would defeat its purpose.
But I sincerely believe that China needs single-minded, undivided leadership for at least the next decade.
You posed a reasonable argument for both 'for' and 'against' the amendment. But essentially, what you are
HOPING for is along the line of Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew, or a 'benevolent dictatorship'.
Let us say that Xi, despite rising thru the corruption that permeated the Chinese government for all these decades, is as close to a saint as the environment allows. How did this amendment came to be? Not likely solely from Xi. He must have a circle of like minded people determined to reform China. The corruption predate the liberalization of China's economy, and there is no need for cynicism the understand that the wealth from that liberalization enlarged the pool of the corrupted and corruptible.
What this means is that Xi and his circle of reformers are small. Inside this circle, there would be two types: the visionaries or the leaders, and the executors or the technicians/specialists/experts of the Chinese government bureaucracies.
The first priority is to reduce the pool of the corruptible, meaning those who are vulnerable to lures of wealth and power, no matter how small the quantity of those items maybe. The corrupted are entrenched, each has his/her own circle of friends and allies. Xi needs them to keep China properly governed and progressive. Being accountable to laws instead of personalities is the best path to reduce the pool of the corruptible and this is where those technical experts of the Chinese bureaucracies comes in. They must inform Xi of where are the existing loopholes and potential loopholes that are exploitable. It is up to Xi, as member of the first group, the leaders and visionaries, to use his and their charisma, influence, and even raw political power to close those loopholes. Old laws repealed and new laws enacted.
Prosecuting a few corrupt politicians and generals is only scratching the surface. Under Xi's radar, the corrupted will figure out where those imprisoned went wrong, how much was too much, whose backs to scratch, petitioners to grant favors and to deny, and ultimately, how to corrupt new members.
The second group is most likely the source of the proposal to amend the constitution. They finally saw within the nitty-gritty details of governance of how entrenched are the corrupted. Entrenched in terms of wealth, sufficient political power, friends and allies, and tools to either resist Xi or perhaps even upset his reforms. This does not mean Xi is ignorant of those details. After all, he came thru the ranks just like everyone else.
So either they proposed to Xi to extend his leadership, or that Xi asked for alternatives and they gave him none. If Xi as much a saint as reformers believes, then have no doubt Xi is tired but for the sake of China, he will endure and continue to lead for as long as he can. But if Xi has to extend his leadership, that in itself is problematic for the future. It begs the issue of successors inside the first group -- the visionaries and the leaders. If Xi is that saint, eventually he will have to step down. Who inside the first group is as able as Xi to continue what they planned? Opponents of reforms knows this as well.
This is why once Xi is secured in his extension of leadership, the second group of reformers, the technical experts of governance, will have to double their efforts to reform the system from within. Opponents of reforms, the corrupted, already knows who they are and what they are doing.