Updated January 29, 2024
China Primer: China’s Political System
Introduction
Party leader outranks the government leader (i.e., the
The People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) is the only
premier, provincial governors, and mayors).
Communist Party-led state either among the five permanent
members of the United Nations Security Council or among
Xi Jinping, 70, leads the PRC party-state. He has served
the members of the G-20 grouping of major economies. As
since 2012 as CPC General Secretary and Chairman of the
Congress has intensified its focus on China in the context of
CPC Central Military Commission, which oversees the
U.S.-China strategic competition, Members have
Party’s armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
increasingly sought to legislate and conduct oversight on
(The PLA formally and explicitly serves the Party, not the
matters that require an understanding of the PRC political
nation.) Xi also has served since 2013 as PRC President, a
system. Select features of that system are introduced below.
head of state position that officially has a minor role in the
operations of the PRC government. Xi began his third five-
The Party-State
year terms in his Party and state posts in 2022 and 2023.
The PRC is both a nation state and a Leninist “party-state.”
The Communist Party of China (CPC), also known as the
The Communist Party of China
Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is China’s dominant
The CPC has led China for 74 years, since 1949. It now has
political institution. It operates a powerful and expansive
98 million members, nearly 7% of China’s population. All
bureaucracy and tasks itself with “exercis[ing] overall
members completed a demanding application and vetting
leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the
process to join. The Party’s highest institution is the Central
country.” The Party tasks the state, or government, with
Committee, led by the General Secretary and including an
administration. Interlocking Party and state hierarchies
elite 24-person Political Bureau (Politburo) and an even
extend down to the level of small towns. At every level, the
more elite 7-man Politburo Standing Committee. (Figure 1)
Figure 1. Hierarchies of the Communist Party of China (CPC, left) and Its Top Decisionmaking Body, the Party
Central Committee’s Politburo Standing Committee (PSB, right)
PSB members are listed in rank order; several hold concurrent positions in other hierarchies; current as of January 29, 2024
Source: CRS graphic by Mari Y. Lee, based on data from the Communist Party of China’s news portal, http://cpc.people.com.cn/.
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China Primer: China’s Political System
Several Politburo Standing Committee members hold
the shadows. Such offices include the Office of the Central
concurrent posts atop other parts of the political system,
Commission for Foreign Affairs. Its director, Wang Yi, is a
ensuring Party control of all political life in China.
Politburo member and serves as China’s top diplomat.
• The Party’s no. 2 official, Li Qiang, serves concurrently
The State (Government)
as Premier of the State Council, the cabinet of China’s
Central People’s Government, overseeing the
Figure 2. China’s State Council Leadership
government bureaucracy. The Party’s no. 6 official,
Ding Xuexiang, serves as his executive Vice Premier.
• The Party’s no. 3 official, Zhao Leji, heads the National
People’s Congress (NPC), China’s unicameral
legislature and, by protocol, China’s counterpart to the
U.S. Congress. China’s people do not directly elect the
NPC’s nearly 3,000 delegates. Rather, delegates to sub-
national bodies—provincial-level people’s congresses
and election councils for the PLA, Hong Kong, Macao,
and, purportedly, “Taiwan compatriots”—elect NPC
delegates, based on lists drawn up by the Party.
• The Party’s no. 4 official, Wang Huning, heads the
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
(CPPCC), a political advisory body that seeks to win
support for the CPC from groups across society,
including minor political parties loyal to the CPC;
organizations such as the Communist Youth League;
and ethnic minority, religious, and professional
communities. The CPC refers to this exercise as
building a “patriotic united front.” Wang also oversees
policy toward Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.
The Party’s no. 5 official, Cai Qi, and the Party Secretariat
manage the CPC Central Committee’s bureaucracy. Under
Xi, that bureaucracy has expanded to absorb some functions
previously managed by the state, and has embraced a more
public role. It includes five functional departments:
Source: CRS graphic by Mari Y. Lee based on data from
• The Organization Department is the Party’s personnel http://www.gov.cn. Current as of January 29, 2024.
agency, responsible for recruiting and training Party,
civil service, and other personnel, and assigning them to
The State Council (Figure 2) is the state’s top institution,
positions across the party-state.
led by the Premier, who is also the Party’s no. 2 official.
• The Publicity Department (or Propaganda
Below him are four vice premiers, all members of the CPC
Department) is responsible for the Party’s messaging
Politburo. Below them are state councilors; they do not sit
and for control of the media, cultural institutions, and
on the Politburo, but are members of other senior Party
ideology.
bodies and the State Council’s own Party committee. In
•
October 2023, Xi Jinping, in his capacity as state president,
The Commission for Political and Legal Affairs is
removed two state councilors from office: former Foreign
responsible for “safeguarding social stability,” oversees
Minister Qin Gang and former Defense Minister Li
the work of the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme
People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministries of Public
Shangfu. Both appear to have fallen afoul of investigations
overseen by the Party’s no. 7 official, Li Xi, who heads the
Security, State Security, and Justice. The heads of those
Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
institutions serve as commission members.
Wang Yi now serves concurrently as the Party’s top
• The United Front Work Department (UFWD), like
diplomat and as foreign minister, a less senior state
the CPPCC, works to manage relations with and coopt
position. Dong Jun is defense minister. Unusually, Dong,
diverse social groups. Its responsibilities include work
for now, is neither a state councilor nor a member of the
related to Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan,
Party or State Central Military Commission. The agencies
and diaspora communities.
that comprise the State Council are 21 government
• The International Department (also known as the
ministries, three ministerial-level commissions, the central
International Liaison Department, or ILD) is responsible
bank, and the National Audit Office. Most of these agency
for party-to-party relations. It is the lead agency for PRC
leaders, but not all, are full members of the CPC Central
relations with fellow communist states Cuba, Laos,
Committee and head their own agencies’ Party committees.
North Korea, and Vietnam.
The Central Committee bureaucracy also includes offices
Susan V. Lawrence, Specialist in Asian Affairs
for high-profile commissions, some of which Xi upgraded
IF12505
from “leading small groups” that had previously operated in
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China Primer: China’s Political System
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