Ask Lemmygrad

Unsure with Stalin, likely true.

I got this from a interview he did with an american news channel (wild how in the 90s you just had chinese leaders going over to american chat shows and talking for a few hours lol)

Wallace: Last question. You are number one in China. How long do you intend to continue to be the chief leader and the chief adviser?

Deng: I am all for the abolition of life tenure and the institution of a retirement system. As you know, I told the Italian correspondent Oriana Fallaci that my plan was to work until 1985. It’s already a year beyond that date. I am now considering when to retire. Personally, I should like to retire soon. However, this is a rather difficult question. It is very hard to persuade the Party rank and file and the Chinese people to accept that. I believe if I retire before I die, it will help ensure the continuation of the present policies. It will also be in keeping with my own wishes. However, I need to work harder to talk people around. In the end, as I am a member of the Communist Party, I must obey the decision of the Party. I am a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, so I must obey the will of the people. I am still hoping that I can succeed in persuading the people to come round to my view.

Wallace: You told Fallaci “until 1985”; what will you tell me?

Deng: To be quite frank, I am trying to persuade people to let me retire at the Party’s Thirteenth National Congress next year. But so far, all I have heard is dissenting voices on all sides.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/deng-xiaoping/1986/192.htm