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Updated July 1, 2024
China Primer: China’s Political System
Introduction
every level and in every institution, Party rank takes
The People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) is the only
precedence over government rank.
Communist Party-led state either among the five permanent
members of the United Nations Security Council or among
Xi Jinping, 71, 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 established the PRC on October 1, 1949. Today,
political institution. It operates a powerful and expansive
the CPC’s 99 million members constitute nearly 7% of
bureaucracy and tasks itself with “exercis[ing] overall
China’s population. All members completed an application
leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the
and vetting process to join. The Party’s highest institution is
country.” The Party tasks the government with
the Central Committee, led by the General Secretary and
administration. Interlocking Party and government
including a 24-man Political Bureau (Politburo) and a 7-
hierarchies extend down to the level of small towns. At
man Politburo Standing Committee. The latter is China’s
top decisionmaking body. (Figure 1.)
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China Primer: China’s Political System
Figure 1. Hierarchies of the Communist Party of China (CPC, left) and Its Top Decisionmaking Body, the
Central Committee’s Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC, right)
PBSC members are listed in rank order; current as of July 1, 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/.
The CPC requires the Central Committee to meet at least
The CPC’s no. 5 official, Cai Qi, heads the Party
once annually, with meetings known as “plenary sessions”
Secretariat. It manages the CPC Central Committee
or “plenums.” Politburo Standing Committee members hold
bureaucracy, which includes six functional departments:
concurrent posts atop other parts of the political system,
ensuring Party control of all political life in China.
• The Organization Department is the Party’s personnel
•
agency, responsible for recruiting and training personnel
The Party’s no. 2 official, Li Qiang, currently serves
and assigning them to positions across the party-state.
concurrently as Premier of the State Council, the
• The Publicity Department (or Propaganda
cabinet of the Central People’s Government, overseeing
Department) is responsible for the Party’s messaging
the government bureaucracy. The Party’s no. 6 official,
and for guiding the media and ideological work.
Ding Xuexiang, serves as executive Vice Premier.
•
•
The Party’s no. 3 official,
The United Front Work Department (UFWD) seeks
Zhao Leji, currently heads the
National People’s Congress
to win support for the CPC from non-CPC groups at
(NPC), China’s
home and abroad, including intellectual, ethnic and
unicameral legislature and, by protocol, China’s
religious communities, private business, and populations
counterpart to the U.S. Congress. The NPC’s nearly
in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and globally, with a
3,000 delegates represent 33 provincial-level
focus on ethnic-Chinese diaspora communities.
jurisdictions, plus, purportedly, “Taiwan compatriots,”
and the PLA. A third of delegates are sitting Party and
• The Commission for Political and Legal Affairs is
government officials. The NPC’s powers include to
responsible for public security and “social stability.” It
enact and amend laws and approve the state budget and
oversees the work of the Supreme People’s Court, the
national plans for economic and social development.
Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministries of
• The Party’s no. 4 official,
Public Security, State Security, and Justice. The heads
Wang Huning, heads the
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
of all those institutions serve as commission members.
(CPPCC), a political advisory body that is central to the
• The International Department (also known as the
CPC’s claim to lead a system of “multiparty cooperation
International Liaison Department) handles party-to-
and political consultation.” The CPPCC also serves as a
party relations. It takes the lead on diplomacy with
vehicle for the CPC’s efforts to win over every part of
Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam.
society to support the CPC’s goals, an exercise the CPC
• The Social Work Department, created in 2023, seeks
calls building a “patriotic united front.” Wang also
to strengthen Party control over community governance,
oversees policy on Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.
social work, volunteer work, industry federations,
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China Primer: China’s Political System
• chambers of commerce, and the handling of complaints
The State Council (Figure 2) is the government’s top
from the public.
institution, led by the premier. Below him are four vice
premiers, all members of the CPC Politburo. Below them
The Central Committee bureaucracy also includes the
are state councilors; they do not sit on the Politburo, but are
offices of high-profile commissions, some of which Xi
members of other senior Party bodies and the State
upgraded from “leading small groups” that had previously
Council’s own Party body. State councilor positions for
operated in the shadows. They include a National Security
foreign affairs and military affairs have been vacant since
Commission and a Central Foreign Affairs Commission.
October 2023, when Xi Jinping abruptly removed their
The Party’s no. 7 official, Li Xi, heads the Party’s
incumbents. The agencies that comprise the State Council
Central
are 21 government ministries, three ministerial-level
Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Since
commissions, the central bank, and the National Audit
2012, the CCDI has investigated millions of CPC members
for alleged violations of “discipline,” including corruption.
Office. Most of these agency leaders, but not all, are full
members of the CPC Central Committee.
Through 2022, targets included 61 full and alternate Central
Committee members and 18 of the CCDI’s own members.
Susan V. Lawrence, Specialist in Asian Affairs
The State (Government)
IF12505
Figure 2. China’s State Council Leadership
Source: CRS graphic by Mari Y. Lee based on data from
http://www.gov.cn. Current as of June 28, 2024.
Disclaimer
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