Chinese Government

Politics of the People's Republic of China (PRC) takes place in a framework of a single-party socialist republic. State power within the PRC is exercised through three interlocking organizations: the Communist Party of China, the Central People's Government, and the People's Liberation Army.

The PRC is an oligarchy, a form of government where most or all political power effectively rests with a small segment of society. The PRC's population, geographical vastness, and social diversity frustrate attempts to rule from Beijing. Central government leaders must increasingly build consensus for new policies among party members, local and regional leaders, influential non-party members, and the population at large.

While the PRC is regarded as a communist state by many political scientists, it is also arguably the wealthiest of those that remain. But attempts to characterize the nature of China's political structure into a single, simple category are typically seen as lacking sufficient depth to be satisfactory. A major reason for this is that for much of China's history, the state had been ruled by some form of centralized imperial monarchy, which was followed by a chaotic succession of largely authoritarian Chinese Nationalist governments as well as warlord-held administrations since the last few years of the Qing dynasty in 1912. Although the PRC regime has been variously described as authoritarian, communist, and socialist, it appears China is slowly becoming capitalist in its economic system. However, heavy restrictions remain in some areas, most notably on the Internet and in the press.

Communist Party

The more than 63 million-member Communist Party of China (CPC) continues to dominate government. In periods of relative liberalization, the influence of people and organizations outside the formal party structure has tended to increase, particularly in the economic realm. Under the command economy system, every state owned enterprise was required to have a party committee. The introduction of the market economy means that economic institutions now exist in which the party has limited or no power.

Nevertheless, in all governmental institutions in the PRC, the party committees maintain an important role. Party control is tightest in government offices and in urban economic, industrial, and cultural settings; it is considerably looser in the rural areas, which contains the majority of Chinese population. Their most important responsibility comes in the selection and promotion of personnel. They also see that party and state policy guidance is followed and that non-party members do not create autonomous organizations that could challenge party rule. Particularly important are the leading small groups that coordinate activities of different agencies. Although there is a convention that government committees contain at least one non-party member, a party membership is a definite aid in promotion and in being in crucial policy setting meetings.

The primary organs of power in the Communist Party include:

The Politburo Standing Committee, which currently consists of nine members
The Politburo, consisting of 22 full members (including the members of the Politburo Standing Committee)
The Secretariat, the principal administrative mechanism of the CPC, headed by the General Secretary
The Central Military Commission
The Discipline Inspection Commission, which deals with issues of corruption and malfeasance

State Structure

The primary organs of state power are the National People's Congress (NPC), the President, and the State Council. Members of the State Council include the Premier, a variable number of vice premiers (now four), five state councilors (protocol equal of vice premiers but with narrower portfolios), and 29 ministers and heads of State Council commissions. During the 1980s there was an attempt made to separate party and state functions, with the party deciding general policy and the state carrying it out. The attempt was abandoned in the 1990s with the result that the political leadership within the state are also the leaders of the party, thereby creating a single centralized locus of power.

At the same time, there has been a convention that party and state offices be separated at levels other than the central government, and it is unheard of for a sub-national executive to also be party secretary. Conflict has been often known to develop between the chief executive and the party secretary, and this conflict is widely seen as intentional to prevent either from becoming too dominant. Some special cases are the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau where the Communist Party does not function at all as part of the governmental system, and the autonomous regions where, following Soviet practice, the chief executive is typically a member of the local ethnic group while the party general secretary is non-local and usually Han Chinese.

Under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the NPC is the highest organ of state power in China. It meets annually for about 2 weeks to review and approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel changes. Although the NPC generally approves State Council policy and personnel recommendations, the NPC and its standing committee has increasingly asserted its role as the national legislature and has been able to force revisions in some laws.

Constitution

The PRC Constitution was first created on September 20, 1954. Before that, an interim Constitution-like document created by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was in force.

The current Constitution is the PRC's 4th promulgation. On December 4, 1982, it was promulgated and has served as a stable Constitution for over 20 years. The role of the Presidency and the courts were normalized, and under the Constitution, all citizens were equal. Amendments were made in 1988, 1993, 1999, and most recently, in 2004, which recognized private property, safeguarded human rights, and further promoted the non-public sector of the economy.

The People’s Liberation Army

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is controlled not by the State Council but rather by the Central Military Commission, a body which consists mostly of military officers but is chaired by a civilian, since 2004 Hu Jintao. Unlike most national armies, the Ministry of National Defense, which is in the State Council, has very little power and exists mostly to coordinate liaison activities with other militaries. This makes the PLA effectively an army of the Party, not the state, although the suitability of this arrangement during the recent drive to professionalize and modernize the PLA has also been debated.

In practice, the Central Military Commission follows the decisions of the Central Military Committee of the Communist takes some elaborate procedures to ensure the loyalty of the military including the zampolit system by which each army unit has a political officer who is answerable not to the military but rather to the party. In addition, there has been a strong desire by the political elite to professionalize the PLA and decrease its political role. Nevertheless, the PLA has in the past been an important political force when the civilian leadership has been deadlocked, and retains the potential to play such a role in the future.

Executive Branch

The President and vice president are elected by the National People's Congress for five-year terms. The State Council is appointed by the National People's Congress (NPC).

Main office holders:

President

Hu Jintao

Vice President

Zeng Qinghong

Premier of the State Council

Wen Jiaboa

Vice Premiers

Huang Ju
Wu Yi
Zeng Peiyan
Hui Liangyu

Legislative Branch

The unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui has 2,979 seats; members elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people's congresses to serve five-year terms.