China’s Political Institutions and Leaders in Charts
Released: 2013-11-12T00:00:00

Introduction

This report provides a concise, chart- and table-based introduction to China's political institutions and current leaders. The report is intended to assist Members and their staffs seeking to understand where political institutions or individuals fit within the broader Chinese political system and to identify which Chinese officials are responsible for specific portfolios. The information may be useful for Members and staff visiting China, hosting visitors from China, preparing for China-related hearings, or drafting China-related legislation. For a detailed discussion of the Chinese political system, see CRS Report R41007, Understanding China's Political System , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed].

China's Communist Party, which dominates the Chinese political system, convened its 18 th National Congress in November 2012. At the Congress and a meeting immediately following it, the Party elected a new leadership to five-year terms ending in 2017. Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission, making him China's top leader for what is expected to be the next decade.

The first session of the 12 th National People's Congress in March 2013 produced new leaders for the legislature, the State, the judiciary, the prosecutor's office, the State military commission, and other bodies. All such leaders were appointed to five-year terms ending in 2018. On this occasion, Xi Jinping assumed an additional post, as State President. A parallel meeting produced a new leadership for a high-profile political advisory body.

The charts included in this report reflect the structure of the Chinese leadership that emerged from those Party, legislature, and advisory body meetings.

All charts in this report were created by CRS.

All personal names are listed in Chinese style, with family names preceding given names.

China's Political Power Structure

China's current state constitution was adopted in 1982 and subsequently amended four times. Its third chapter, entitled "Structure of the State," describes China's unicameral legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) , as "the highest organ of state power." According to the state constitution, the NPC's role includes "supervising" the work of four other political bodies. They are listed below.

The State Council . The state constitution describes it as "the highest organ of state administration"; it oversees the state bureaucracy and manages day-to-day administration of the country. The State Central Military Commission . The state constitution says it "directs the armed forces of the country." The Supreme People's Court . The state constitution calls it "the highest judicial organ." The Supreme People's Procuratorate . It is China's top prosecutor's office.

This political power structure is illustrated in Figure 1 . The Communist Party of China is not mentioned in Chapter 3 of the state constitution, although Communist Party leadership is mentioned in passing five times in the state constitution's preamble.

The Communist Party's own constitution provides more detail about Party leadership of the political system, the economy, and society at large, stating that "the Party commands the overall situation and coordinates the efforts of all quarters, and the Party must play the role as the core of leadership among all other organizations at corresponding levels." The Party constitution explicitly states that the Communist Party "persists in its leadership over the People's Liberation Army and other armed forces of the people." The Party exercises that leadership through a Party Central Military Commission . It, rather than the State Central Military Commission, commands China's armed forces; the State Military Commission, which has identical membership to the Party Central Military Commission, is believed to exist in name only. In the Party constitution, Party leadership of the legislature, the State Council, the courts, and the prosecutor's office is not explicitly stated, but is implied. In practice, the Party nominates the leaders of all four bodies and operates Party committees within each of them. The courts and prosecutors' offices, the police, and some ministries report directly to Party Central Committee commissions and departments. Figure 2 provides an approximate illustration of China's power structure as currently implemented, with the Communist Party in charge.

The Communist Party of China (CPC)

With 85 million dues-paying members, just over 6% of China's population of 1.35 billion, the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the largest political party in the world. As noted above, it is China's dominant political institution, exercising leadership over the entire political system.

The Communist Party constitution requires the Party to hold a national congress every five years. The most recent congress, the 18th, was held in November 2012. At each Congress, delegates elect a new Central Committee in a modestly competitive process: the Party leadership nominates approximately 10% more candidates than available positions. The current Central Committee is composed of 205 full members and 171 alternate members. They include 33 women (8.8% of the full 376-member Central Committee) and 39 ethnic minorities (10.4%).

Each meeting of the Central Committee is known as a plenum. At its first plenum following a Party Congress, the Central Committee elects from among its members a 25-person Politburo , a more elite Politburo Standing Committee , which currently has seven members, and a General Secretary , who serves as China's top leader and who is required to be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee. These elections are believed to be non-competitive, with the outgoing Party leadership nominating only as many candidates as positions available. According to the Party constitution, the Standing Committee then nominates members of the Party Secretariat , which manages the daily operations of the Politburo and its Standing Committee and oversees Party Central Committee departments and commissions. Members of the Secretariat are subject to endorsement by the Central Committee. The Members of all the Party leadership bodies are elected or endorsed for five-year-long terms, until the next Party Congress.

The top officials in all non-Party institutions routinely hold concurrent Party posts, although they often do not publicize them. Party committees are embedded in the State Council, ministries under the State Council, the legislature, the courts, prosecutors' offices, state-owned enterprises, and all other public institutions, such as universities and hospitals, as well as in most private companies and many non-governmental organizations.

At the sub-national level, provinces, counties, and townships all have a Party committee and a parallel people's government, with the Party Secretary of the Party committee serving as the geographic unit's top leader.

The Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee

The Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) serves as China's most senior decision-making body. The Party constitution requires that Party committees at all levels of the Chinese political system operate according to "the principle of combining collective leadership with individual responsibility based on division of work." Accordingly, each of the seven members of the PSC shoulders primary responsibility for a specific portfolio.

The Party General Secretary serves concurrently as Chairman of the Party and State Central Military Commissions, which have identical memberships, and as State President. He also oversees foreign policy and, according to the Party constitution, has responsibility for convening Standing Committee and larger Politburo meetings and "presiding over" the work of the Party Secretariat. The second-ranked PSC member serves as Premier of the State Council, which manages the state bureaucracy. He is effectively China's top economic official. The third-ranked PSC member serves as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's unicameral legislature. The fourth-ranked PSC member serves as chairman of a political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee. He is responsible for outreach to non-Communist groups, such as China's eight minor political parties, all of which pledge loyalty to the Communist Party, and state-sanctioned religious associations. The fifth-ranked PSC member heads the Party Secretariat, which oversees the Party bureaucracy. He also has responsibility for ideology and propaganda. The sixth-ranked PSC member heads the Party's Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission (CDIC), which polices the Party's ranks for corruption and other forms of malfeasance. The seventh-ranked PSC member serves as the top-ranked State Council vice premier and assists the Premier with his duties.

The collective leadership principle is generally understood to mean that the General Secretary must win consensus from his Standing Committee colleagues for major decisions.

Since 1997, China has evolved a set of age limits for top Party offices, although it is unclear if these are norms or rules. At the last three Party Congresses, in 2002, 2007, and 2012, no one older than 67 was appointed to a new term on the Politburo Standing Committee or the broader Politburo. Five of the seven Politburo Standing Committee members (all except Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang) and 6 of the 18 regular Politburo members will be over the age of 67 by the time the 19 th Party Congress is scheduled to be held in 2017, and thus are expected to retire then. Barring unforeseen developments, Xi and Li are expected to be elected to new terms in 2017, retiring in 2022. Party and state leaders are limited to two five-year terms in the same position.

The Communist Party Politburo

The full 25-member Politburo (or "Political Bureau") includes the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee plus 18 regular members. Members whose primary area of responsibility is the Communist Party are the greatest in number, followed by members whose primary area of responsibility is the State, then the provinces, the military, the National People's Congress, and the political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Among the members whose primary area of responsibility is the Party, three preside over particularly sensitive portfolios, each considered by the Party to be crucial to maintaining Party rule. They are listed below.

The head of the Organization Department , responsible for the recruitment of Party members and their assignment to jobs across the party and state, the legislatures, state-owned corporations, universities, and other public institutions. The head of the Propaganda Department (also known as the Publicity Department), responsible for the Party's messaging and for control of the media and ideology. In coordination with the Organization Department, the Propaganda Department manages the leaders of the Ministry of Culture; the General Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film, and Television; the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; the People's Daily; the Xinhua News Agency; and other media organizations. The head of the Central Commission of Politics and Law , who oversees the security apparatus, including the courts, the prosecutors' offices, the internal and external state security bureaucracy, the police, and, in conjunction with the Central Military Commission and the State Council, the paramilitary forces.

The seven State positions that confer Politburo membership are the State President and Vice President, the Premier of the State Council, and the four State Council Vice Premiers.

The six geographic units represented on the Politburo include four municipalities with the same bureaucratic status as provinces: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Also represented are the prosperous coastal province of Guangdong, next to Hong Kong, and the ethnic minority region of Xinjiang, in China's northwest. Two of the provincial leaders with seats on the Politburo, Guangdong Province Party Secretary Hu Chunhua and Chongqing Municipality Party Secretary Sun Zhengcai, are the youngest members of the Politburo. Because they have achieved high office at a young age, they are considered leading candidates for eventual promotion to Politburo Standing Committee membership.

The Politburo includes two women. They are Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Tianjin Municipality Party Secretary Sun Chunlan.

The Communist Party's Military

The Party's Central Military Commission (CMC) exercises unified command over China's armed forces, consisting of the active and reserve forces of China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA); a paramilitary force, the People's Armed Police Force (PAP); and a militia. The PLA, with approximately 2.3 million active personnel and 510,000 reserves, is not a national army belonging to the state. Rather, it serves as the Party's armed wing.

The civilian General Secretary of the Communist Party serves as the CMC's chairman. The rest of the CMC is currently comprised of uniformed officers. They are two vice chairmen (who serve concurrently on the Party's Politburo), the State Councilor for military affairs (who serves concurrently as Minister of Defense), the directors of the PLA's four general departments, and the commanders of the Navy, the Air Force, and the strategic and conventional missile forces, known as the Second Artillery Corps. The Party and State CMCs have identical memberships and are effectively a single body. The institution of the Party CMC is the locus of authority.

The responsibilities of the PLA's four general departments are listed below.

General Staff Department : operations, cyber and electronic warfare, communications/informatization, intelligence, training, force structure, mobilization, and foreign affairs; General Political Department : Communist Party affairs, personnel, military media and cultural troupes, and security; General Logistics Department : financial affairs and audits; housing, food, uniforms, and other supplies; military healthcare; military transportation; and capital construction; and General Armament Department : weapons and equipment needs, research and development, electronics and information infrastructure, and the manned space program.

The four general departments direct the service branches and serve as the national headquarters for the Army. They also direct China's military regions (MRs), also known as military area commands or theaters of war. The seven military regions are the Shenyang MR, Beijing MR, Lanzhou MR, Jinan MR, Nanjing MR, Guangzhou MR, and Chengdu MR. The Navy, the Air Force, and the Second Artillery Corps each has its own separate national headquarters. The Ministry of National Defense is not in the chain of command.

The State Presidency

The State President serves as China's head of state. The position, held by Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, is the highest State office, but is largely ceremonial and involves few duties. Since 1993, every Communist Party General Secretary has served concurrently as State President, largely to facilitate his meetings with other heads of state. As Communist Party General Secretary alone, he would have few counterparts.

Candidates for the positions of President and Vice President are nominated by the Communist Party and elected by deputies to the National People's Congress. So far, such elections have always been non-competitive. The Chinese government's official website states, however, that, "As the political democratization process continues, the single-candidate practice will gradually be replaced by multi-candidate election."

According to China's state constitution, the President is subordinate to the National People's Congress (NPC). The actual power dynamic is reversed, because the position of the President is filled by the Communist Party General Secretary. The General Secretary/State President is the Party's top official, while the NPC Standing Committee Chairman is ranked third in the Party hierarchy for protocol purposes.

According to the constitution, the President promulgates laws that are passed by the NPC and ratifies treaties that are agreed to by the NPC. He nominates the Premier to the NPC, and appoints the Premier following NPC review. Following decisions by the NPC, the President is also responsible for officially proclaiming a state of emergency or a state of war and issuing mobilization orders. Other than appointing and, if need be, removing its top officials, the President officially has no role in the operations of the State Council, a separate political institution that oversees China's state bureaucracy.

The constitution decrees somewhat vaguely that the State Vice President "assists the president in his work" and "may exercise such functions and powers of the president as the president may entrust to him." The current Vice President, Li Yuanchao, is a regular member of the 25-person Politburo, but not a member of the elite seven-person Politburo Standing Committee. His Party protocol rank is lower than that of the State Council Premier and the top-ranked Vice Premier, who are both Politburo Standing Committee members. His rank is also marginally lower than that of the second-ranked Vice Premier. President Xi is believed to have entrusted Vice President Li with a portfolio that includes substantial involvement in foreign affairs.

The State Council

China's state constitution describes the State Council, also known as the Central People's Government, as "the highest organ of State administration." The State Council is officially responsible for implementing policies formulated by the Communist Party and laws passed by the National People's Congress, and for overseeing the day-to-day work of the State bureaucracy. China generally conducts its external relations through the State Council.

The State Council is headed by a Premier, who serves concurrently as the Communist Party's no. 2-ranked official. He is appointed to his post by the State President, a position held by the Communist Party's top-ranked official. The Premier is assisted by four Vice Premiers, one of whom sits with him on the Party's Politburo Standing Committee, and the remaining three of whom are regular members of the Party's 25-person Politburo. Just below the Vice Premiers in rank are five State Councilors. State Councilors are full members of the Party's Central Committee, but do not hold seats on the more elite Politburo. The portfolios of all the Vice Premiers and State Councilors are described in Table 1 .

The full State Council is akin to a cabinet. In addition to the Premier, the Vice Premiers, the State Councilors, and a Secretary General, it also includes the ministers of China's 20 ministries, the chairmen of three ministerial-level commissions, the governor of the central bank, known as the People's Bank of China, and the head of the National Audit Office.

Under the State Council are a wide array of organizations and administrative offices. They include such entities as the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administrative Commission of the State Council, which oversees national-level state-owned enterprises, and the State Administration of Taxation. They also include such entities as China's state news agency, Xinhua, and regulatory commissions for banking, securities, insurance, and electricity.

The State Council has the power to pass its own regulations and to draft legislation or authorize ministries to draft legislation, which it forwards to the National People's Congress for passage into law.

The State Council Executive Committee

The State Council's most senior officials are members of an Executive Committee composed of the Premier, four Vice Premiers, five State Councilors, and a Secretary General. The Vice Premiers are all members of the elite 25-person Communist Party Politburo, while the State Councilors are not. Because the current Secretary General serves concurrently as a State Councilor, the Executive Committee now has 10 members. Current Executive Committee members were appointed in March 2013 for a five-year term. They are listed below, along with their reported portfolios.

The National People's Congress

The National People's Congress is China's unicameral legislature. China's 1982 state constitution describes the NPC as "the highest organ of state power." The state constitution gives the NPC the power to amend the state constitution; supervise its enforcement; enact and amend laws; ratify and abrogate treaties; approve the state budget and plans for national economic and social development; and elect and impeach top officials of the state and judiciary. It also authorizes the NPC to supervise the work of the State Council, the State Central Military Commission, the Supreme People's Court, and the chief prosecutor's office, known as the Supreme People's Procuratorate. In reality, the NPC is controlled by the Communist Party and exercises many of its constitutionally conferred powers in name only.

Each Congress lasts five years. The current Congress, the 12 th NPC, began in March 2013. The full Congress is composed of approximately 3,000 delegates. They are nominated by the Communist Party and elected by 35 electoral units: the people's congresses of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 4 provincial-level cities, plus election councils for the People's Liberation Army, the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, and "Taiwan compatriots." The full Congress meets for a single annual session of about 10 days every March. Because the full Congress's annual session is so brief, much of the NPC's work is undertaken by its Standing Committee , which currently has 161 members and convenes every two months. The NPC's highest-ranking official is the Chairman of the Standing Committee, who serves concurrently as the Communist Party's no. 3-ranked official. Many of the NPC's top officials are retired senior officials from other parts of the political system who are able to extend their political careers by up to 10 years by serving in the Congress.

Nine NPC specialized committees , composed of deputies, meet throughout the year, usually once a month. They do not have the power to amend legislation assigned to them for review, or to approve personnel for other constitutional branches of government. They do have a formal role, however, in offering advice on legislation to the Standing Committee and the full Congress and performing oversight. Because the NPC does not have a specialized committee specifically focused on military affairs, the Foreign Affairs Committee is responsible for advising on legislation on both foreign affairs and defense matters. The Foreign Affairs Committee also has responsibility for international parliamentary exchanges.

Five institutions composed of staff and outside experts support the Standing Committee. A sixth institution supporting the Standing Committee, the Deputy Credential Examination Committee, is composed of NPC delegates.

Officials Whose Portfolios Include Foreign Affairs

Several members of the 25-person Party Politburo have portfolios that include foreign affairs. The most prominent are President Xi Jinping and Vice President Li Yuanchao, who are believed to serve as the head and deputy head of the Party's coordinating body for foreign affairs, the Central Committee Foreign Affairs Leading Small Group. (The group's membership is not publicly disclosed.) No Politburo member focuses full-time on foreign policy.

China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, is one of 205 full members of the Party Central Committee, but is not a member of the Politburo. China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, also a Central Committee member, is subordinate to State Councilor Yang. In managing China's foreign policy, the State Councilor for Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Minister must contend with other foreign policy players from the military, the propaganda apparatus, the security organs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the bureaucracies responsible for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, and "overseas Chinese" affairs.

Leading Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

As Table 2 shows, the Foreign Minister is one of many senior foreign policy players in China. He is outranked by the State Councilor for foreign affairs and frequently outmaneuvered by more powerful bureaucracies, such as those of the military and the security apparatus. Within the Foreign Ministry, the minister effectively shares power with the Executive Vice Minister, who holds the protocol rank of a full minister, and who heads the ministry's Communist Party Committee. The Executive Vice Minister is an alternate member of the Party Central Committee, while the minister is a full member.