BEIJING (AP) — A well-known political commentator and a prominent businesswoman in China have penned public letters urging lawmakers to reject a plan that would allow President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely.

The rare and public expressions of dissent have come through impassioned statements that began circulating widely on the WeChat messaging app after the ruling Communist Party announced a proposal to scrap term limits on the president and vice president.

Li Datong, a former editor for the state-run China Youth Daily, wrote in a statement Monday to Beijing's members of China's rubber-stamp parliament that lifting term limits would "sow the seeds of chaos."

An official in the information department of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress said he was not aware of the open letters.