Premier of the People's Republic of China

Last updated
Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国国务院总理
National Emblem of the People's Republic of China (2).svg
National Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg
Flag of the People's Republic of China
Meeting with Li Qiang (2023)(crop).jpg
Incumbent
Li Qiang
since 11 March 2023
State Council of the People's Republic of China
Style
Type Head of government
Status National leader level official
Member of
  • Plenary Meeting of the State Council
  • Executive Meeting of the State Council
Reports to National People's Congress and its Standing Committee
Residence Premier's Office, Zhongnanhai, Beijing
Seat Beijing
Nominator President
(chosen within the Chinese Communist Party)
Appointer National People's Congress
Term length Five years, renewable once consecutively
Constituting instrument Constitution of the People's Republic of China
PrecursorPremier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government
Inaugural holder Zhou Enlai
Formation7 November 1931;92 years ago (1931-11-07) (Chinese Soviet Republic)
1 October 1949;74 years ago (1949-10-01) (People's Republic of China)
Abolished22 September 1937;86 years ago (1937-09-22) (Chinese Soviet Republic)
Unofficial namesPrime Minister
Deputy Vice Premier
State councillor
Salary CN¥150,000 per annum est. (2015) [1]
Website www.gov.cn/premier/index.htm OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
Simplified Chinese 中华人民共和国国务院总理
Traditional Chinese 中華人民共和國國務院總理

The premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the premier of China, is the head of government of China and leader of the State Council. The premier is the second-highest ranking person in China's political system, under the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (paramount leader)/president (state representative), and holds the highest rank in the civil service of the central government.

Contents

The premier presides over the plenary and executive meetings of the State Council, and assumes overall leadership over the State Council's work. The premier also signs administrative regulations passed by the State Council and signs the orders approving the appointment and removal of deputy-ministerial level officials of the State Council, as well as chief executives of Hong Kong and Macau. The premier is assisted by four vice premiers and state councillors in their duties. In China's political system, the premier has generally thought to be the one responsible for managing the economy.

The premier is constitutionally elected by the National People's Congress (NPC), and responsible to it and its Standing Committee. The premier serves for a five-year term, renewable once consecutively. Every premier has been a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee since the PRC's founding in 1949, except during brief transition periods. The incumbent premier is Li Qiang, who took office on 11 March 2023, succeeding Li Keqiang.

History

The post was initially established by Organic Law of the Central People's Government, passed by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 29 September 1949, as the premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government. [2] Zhou Enlai was appointed as premier immediately after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1 October 1949. [3] With the adoption of a constitution in 1954, the post was renamed into the premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. [4]

Since the 1980s, there has been a division of responsibilities between the premier and the CCP general secretary wherein the premier is responsible for the economy and the technical details of implementing government policy while the general secretary gathers the political support necessary for government policy. [5] However, this was seen to be overturned under the leadership of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, who has centralized power around himself, and taken responsibility over areas that were traditionally the domain of the premier, including the economy. [5]

The premier was historically chosen within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through deliberations by incumbent CCP Politburo members and retired CCP Politburo members as part of the process of determining membership in the incoming new CCP Politburo Standing Committee. Under this informal process, the eventual future premier is initially chosen as a vice premier before assuming the position of premier during a subsequent round of leadership transitions. [6] This changed under Xi, with his ally and current premier Li Qiang never having served as vice premier. [7]

Selection

Officially, the premier is appointed by the National People's Congress (NPC) upon the nomination of the president. [8] The NPC also has the power to remove the premier and other state officers from office. Elections and removals are decided by majority vote. [8] In practice, the premier is chosen within the CCP leadership, including the Politburo Standing Committee. [9]

The length of the premier's term of office is the same as the NPC, which is 5 years, and the premier is restricted to two consecutive terms. [8] Immediately after the election, the president signs the presidential order formalizing the premier's appointment. Since 2018, the premier is required to recite the constitutional oath of office before assuming office. [9]

Powers and duties

The premier is the highest administrative position in the Government of China. The premier heads the State Council [10] and is responsible for organizing and administering the Chinese civil bureaucracy. For example, the premier is tasked with planning and implementing national economic and social development and the state budget. [8] [11] The premier has always been a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

The premier's duties includes overseeing the various ministries, departments, commissions and statutory agencies. [7] The premier can also propose the establishment, merger or dissolution of ministries, which would then be decided upon by the NPC or its Standing Committee. [12] The premier officially nominated the candidates for vice premiers, state councillors, ministerial offices and the secretary-general of the State Council for appointment by the NPC. [9] The vice premiers assist the premier in their duties. The first-ranked vice premier acts in the premier's capacity in their absence. [13]

The premier chairs the plenary and executive meetings of the State Council. The executive meetings include the premier, vice premiers, state councillors and the secretary-general of the State Council, [8] and are held two or three times a month, and can be held in any time if necessary. [14] The State Council has the authority to issue proposals to the NPC and its Standing Committee, which must be approved by the premier. It can also draft or abolish administrative regulations, which are then signed into order and promulgated by the premier. [11] [14] The premier also signs the order approving the appointments or removals of State Council officials at the deputy-ministerial level, as well as the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and the Chief Executive of Macau. [11]

The premier does not have command authority over the armed forces, but is generally the head of the National Defense Mobilization Commission which is a department of the armed forces. [15] The State Council has the authority to impose martial law in subdivisions below the provincial-level administrative divisions, which the premier then proclaims in an order; [11] [16] premier Li Peng used the authority to impose martial law in parts of Beijing and to order the military crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

In China, politics functions within a communist state framework based on the system of people's congress under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with the National People's Congress (NPC) functioning as the highest organ of state power and only branch of government per the principle of unified power. The CCP leads state activities by holding two-thirds of the seats in the NPC, and these party members are, in accordance with democratic centralism, responsible for implementing the policies adopted by the CCP Central Committee and the National Congress. The NPC has unlimited state power bar the limitations it sets on itself. By controlling the NPC, the CCP has complete state power. China's two special administrative regions (SARs), Hong Kong and Macau, are nominally autonomous from this system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Council of the People's Republic of China</span> Chief administrative authority of the Peoples Republic of China

The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and the national cabinet of China. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the executive organ of the National People's Congress, the highest organ of state power. It is composed of the premier, vice premiers, state councilors, ministers of ministries, directors of committees, the auditor general, and the secretary-general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Military Commission (China)</span> Peoples Republic of China political bodies governing the military

The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China, which heads the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wu Bangguo</span> Chinese politician

Wu Bangguo is a Chinese retired politician. Wu served as the second-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party from 2002 to 2012, and as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2013.

The orders of precedence in China is the ranking of political leaders in China for the purposes of event protocol and to arrange the ordering of names in official news bulletins, both written and televised. It is also sometimes used to assess perceived level of political power. Although there is no formally published ranking, there is usually an established convention and protocol, and the relative positions of Chinese political figures can usually be deduced from the order in meetings and especially by the time and order in which figures are covered by the official media. Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party has been the highest-ranking official in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party</span> Body serving the Politburo of the CCP and its Standing Committee

The Secretariat, officially the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a body serving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Politburo and Standing Committee. The secretariat is mainly responsible for carrying out routine operations of the Politburo and coordinating organizations and stakeholders to achieve tasks set out by the Politburo. It is empowered by the Politburo to make routine day-to-day decisions on issues of concern in accordance with the decisions of the Politburo, but it must consult the Politburo on substantive matters.

Generations of Chinese leadership is a term historians use to characterize distinct periods of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and, by extension, successive changes in the ideology of the CCP. Historians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) by reference to these "generations".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Foreign Affairs Commission</span> Commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

The Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, commonly called the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, is a commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that exercises general oversight on matters related to foreign affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Han Zheng</span> Vice President of China since 2023

Han Zheng is a Chinese politician serving as the current vice president of the People's Republic of China since 2023. He previously served as the first vice premier of the People's Republic of China between 2018 and 2023, and as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between 2017 and 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Li Keqiang</span> Premier of China from 2013 to 2023

Li Keqiang was a Chinese economist and politician who served as the premier of the People's Republic of China from 2013 to 2023. He was also the second-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2012 to 2022. Li was a major part of the "fifth generation of Chinese leadership" along with Xi Jinping, the CCP general secretary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of China</span>

The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's congresses. This system is based on the principle of unified state power, in which the legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), is constitutionally enshrined as "the highest state organ of power." As China's political system has no separation of powers, there is only one branch of government which is represented by the legislature. The CCP through the NPC enacts unified leadership, which requires that all state organs, from the Supreme People's Court to the President of the People's Republic of China, are elected by, answerable to, and have no separate powers than those granted to them by the NPC. By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in all state bodies through a two-thirds majority in the NPC. The remaining seats are held by nominally independent delegates and eight minor political parties, which are non-oppositional and support the CCP. All government bodies and state-owned enterprises have internal CCP committees that lead the decision-making in these institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vice President of the People's Republic of China</span> Largely ceremonial office in China

The vice president of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the vice president of China, is the deputy to the president of the People's Republic of China, the state representative of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party</span>

The 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Beijing, China, at the Great Hall of the People from 15 to 21 October 2007. Congress marked a significant shift in the political direction of the country as CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao solidified his position of leadership. Hu's signature policy doctrine, the Scientific Development Concept, which aimed to create a "Socialist Harmonious Society" through egalitarian wealth distribution and concern for the country's less well-off, was enshrined into the Party Constitution. It was succeeded by the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party</span> 2012 Chinese Communist Party conference

The 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held November 8-15, 2012 at the Great Hall of the People. It was preceded by the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Due to term limits and age restrictions, seven of the nine members of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) retired during the Congress, including Hu Jintao, who was replaced by Xi Jinping as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. The Congress elected the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and saw the number of Politburo Standing Committee seats reduced from nine to seven. It was succeeded by the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress</span> High constitutional office of China

The chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is the presiding officer of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), which is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of China.

The succession of power in China since 1949 takes place in the context of a one-party state under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Despite the guarantee of universal franchise in the constitution, the appointment of the Paramount leader lies largely in the hands of his predecessor and the powerful factions that control the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission</span> Commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

The Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission is a commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of leading and supervising economic work of both the CCP Central Committee and the State Council. The Commission is generally headed by CCP General Secretary or Premier of the State Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs</span> Chinese policy coordination group

The Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs is an internal policy coordination group of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reporting to the CCP Politburo, in charge of supervising and coordinating Beijing's policy towards the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President of the People's Republic of China</span> State representative of China

The President of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the President of China, is the state representative of the People's Republic of China, which on its own is a ceremonial office and has no real power in China's political system. However, since 1993, the post has been held by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, who is China's de facto leader.

References

  1. ↑ Luo, Wangshu (2015-01-20). "Public Employees Get Salary Increase". China Daily . Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  2. ↑ "The Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China" (PDF). The Common Program of the People's Republic of China 1949-1954. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  3. ↑ "Mao Zedong Declares New Nation (1949)". Alpha History. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  4. ↑ Chang, Yu-Nan (1956). "The Chinese Communist State System Under the Constitution of 1954". The Journal of Politics. 18 (3): 520–546. doi:10.2307/2127261. ISSN   0022-3816. JSTOR   2127261. S2CID   154446161.
  5. 1 2 Wei, Lingling (2022-05-11). "China's Forgotten Premier Steps Out of Xi's Shadow as Economic Fixer". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2022-10-16.
  6. ↑ "China's backroom power brokers block reform candidates". South China Morning Post . 21 November 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  7. 1 2 Hadano, Tsukasa; Kawate, Iori (31 December 2022). "Xi loyalist set to become China premier without stint as deputy". Nikkei Asia . Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Constitution of the People's Republic of China". National People's Congress . Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  9. 1 2 3 Liao, Zewei (2023-03-04). "NPC 2023: How China Selects Its State Leaders for the Next Five Years". NPC Observer. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  10. ↑ Shambaugh 2021, p. 18.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Chen, Yan (3 April 2023). "李强：中国新总理上任23天的三个信号和三道难题" [Li Qiang: Three signals and three problems for China’s new premier in his 23rd day in office]. BBC News . Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  12. ↑ "Organic Law of the State Council of the People's Republic of China". National People's Congress . 13 December 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  13. ↑ Tang, Frank; Wang, Orange (27 October 2022). "China's top legislature 'deliberates' on new nominations, as leadership reshuffle stokes market turmoil". South China Morning Post . Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  14. 1 2 Zheng, William (28 March 2023). "New work rules for China's State Council put the party firmly in charge". South China Morning Post . Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  15. ↑ "NIDS China Security Report 2012" (PDF). National Institute for Defense Studies. December 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  16. ↑ "Martial Law of the People's Republic of China". National People's Congress . 11 December 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  17. ↑ Huang, Cary (24 July 2019). "Obituary: Li Peng, China's technocrat 'communist warrior' who rose to the top in chaotic times". South China Morning Post . Retrieved 11 January 2023.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.