President of the People's Republic of China
The
President of the People's Republic of China (, or abbreviated
Guójiā Zh"xí 国家主席) is the
head of state of the
People's Republic of China. The office was created by the
1982 Constitution. Formally, the President is elected by the
National People's Congress in accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution. In practice, this election falls into the category of
'single-candidate' elections. The candidate is recommended by the Presidium of the
National People's Congress.
The term
Zhuxi refers to the
chairman in a committee, and was translated as such prior to the 1982 constitution (as in
Chairman Mao). The official translation switched to
President after 1982 in conformity with Western terminology. However,
Zhuxi stayed in Chinese, and in other contexts still corresponds to
chairman in English. Meanwhile, the translation of English term
President as the head of other states remained
Zongtong (), causing a bit of confusion with regard to usage.
According to the
Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the
National People's Congress (NPC), in theory China's top law-making legislature, has the power to elect and force the resignation of the President. By law, the President must be a Chinese citizen of 45 years of age or older. The President cannot serve for over two terms, a term being the equivalent of one session of the NPC, which is five years.
The President promulagates statues adopted by the NPC and NPCSC. The President also has the power to appoint the Premier, Vice-Premiers, State Council members, all ambassadors to foreign countries, Ministers of all departments, and all legislative committee chairs, treasurers and secretaries. The President has the power to give Special Presidential Decrees, and can declare
State of Emergency, and declare War. The President is assisted by the
Vice-President.
In the event that the President dies or leaves office, the Vice-President automatically assumes presidential powers. In the event that they both are unable to perform normal duties, the
Chairman of the National People's Congress will perform the duties of the President as Acting President until the NPC can elect a new President.
As the President is legally China's head of state, he is responsible for China's foreign affairs. Since the early 1990s, the President has generally been responsible for establishing general policy and direction for the state and leaves responsibility for the implementation details to the
Premier of the People's Republic of China, who is the
head of government. In marked contrast to the system of the
Soviet Union when the President was a powerless figurehead, the Chinese Presidency has grown to be quite a powerful position.
Also since the 1990s, it has been general practice for the President to also serve as the General Secretary of the Communist Party.
It is key for the general secretary to seal his power by adding the presidency to his powerful collection of titles. This effectively removes any power tension between the top communist leader and the Head of State.
The relationship between the President and the military is a bit more murky. The potential for conflict is lessened when, as during the Jiang era, the President is also chairman of the state
Central Military Commission. However, there is a source of potential conflict when this is not the case, shown by the situation in 2003 when top communist leader
Hu Jintao was elected President without being elected the CMC chair. In addition, most of the members of both the Party and the State Central Military Commission are uniformed senior generals, giving the
People's Liberation Army a degree of autonomy. This autonomy, however, is limited by the existence of
political officers.
In principle, when the President is also party general secretary, he could order the Party Central Military Commission to order the state Central Military Commission to do something, however how this would work in a crisis is unclear.
There have been proposals to constitutionally change the system of command to form a National Security Council, modelled after the
National Security Council of the United States, which would give the President undisputed command of the military which would then be just another ministry. These proposals were not actively discussed because of opposition from senior generals and because such acts would be seen as a political attack against the
Chairman of the CMC,
Jiang Zemin. In September, 2004, Jiang stepped down as Chairman of the commission, and President
Hu Jintao became the undisputed Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
Upon the declaration of the People's Republic of China in 1949,
Mao Zedong was selected Chairman of the People's Republic of China. Mao, who was also Chairman of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, was clearly the most powerful person in China. In the
Constitution of 1954, the President (officially translated as "Chairman") of the PRC was intended to be very powerful, serving both as the
Head of State, and the
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The president had special powers to call upon emergency meetings during a crisis or concerns of national security.
After his failures in the
Great Leap Forward, Mao decided to give up the State presidency in 1959. He was succeeded to this post by
Liu Shaoqi, who along with
Zhou Enlai and
Deng Xiaoping, took on a more active role in government to curb the excesses of the Great Leap Forward and restore Soviet-based centrally planned economy. However, in 1966, Mao launched the
Cultural Revolution to re-assert his personal power and overthrow the Liu government. The state and party apparatus broke down and in 1968, Chairman Liu Shaoqi was arrested and humiliated by the
Red Guards.
Chairman Liu died in prison and he was not replaced. Mao concentrated powers centrally into the hands of the Party Chairman, and the CMC Chairman, which were further exercised by various Revolutionary Committees. The ceremonial duties associated with the
Head of State were subsequently passed to the Chairman of the
National People's Congress, the national legislature. The exact reason why Mao Zedong refused to reinstate the presidency was unclear, however it is now known that Mao did not want his political struggle with Liu Shaoqi to be remembered as his attempt to claim the title of the presidency for himself.
Lin Biao, then China's number-two figure, advocated for the reinstatement of the position of President, with Mao taking the position and himself becoming Vice-President. Mao later considered this to be a threat to his power, as the Vice-President can legally succeed the President in the event of the latter's death. But during the early
1980s, it became clearer that China needed a person to serve as the Head of State, albeit completely ceremonial.
Soong Ching-ling, the widow of
Sun Yat-sen and former vice-chairwoman of PRC, was named to be the Honorary President of the PRC before the passage of the Constitution of 1982.
In the Constitution of 1982, the President was conceived of as a figurehead head of state with actual state power resting in the hands of the
Premier of the People's Republic of China and the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, both of which were conceived of as being separate people; the President will only hold the office of the President, and not intervene directly in matters of the State Council or the Party. The President therefore held minor responsibilities such as greeting foreign dignitaries, and signing the appointment of embassy staff. In the original 1982 Constitution plan, the
Party would develop policy, the state would execute it, and the power would be divided to prevent a
cult of personality from forming as it did with the case of Mao Zedong. Thus in 1982, China perceivably had four main leaders: Hu Yaobang, the Party General Secretary; Zhao Ziyang, the Premier; Li Xiannian, the President; and Deng Xiaoping, the "Paramount Leader", holding title of the Chairman of the CMC.
Subsequent events, however, caused the office to have much larger powers than was originally intended. In
1989, then President
Yang Shangkun was able in cooperation with the then Chairman of the
Central Military Commission Deng Xiaoping to use the office of the President to declare
martial law in Beijing and order the military crackdown of the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. This was in direct opposition to the wishes of Party General Secretary
Zhao Ziyang and probably a majority of the
Politburo Standing Committee.
In the
1990s, the experiment of separating party and state posts, which led to bitter division, was terminated, and in
1992, the post of President was taken by
Jiang Zemin, who as General Secretary and chief of the Central Military Commission continued to make the office of the President a powerful position. When Jiang Zemin stepped down in
2003, the offices of General Secretary and President were once again both given to one man, then
Vice-President Hu Jintao.
Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China
#
Mao Zedong (1 Oct
1949 - 27 Sep
1954; de facto ruler of the country until his death on 9 September
1976)
Chairmen of the People's Republic of China
#
Mao Zedong (
27 Sep 1954 -
27 Apr 1959)#
Liu Shaoqi (
27 Apr 1959 -
31 Oct 1968 )
1#
Dong Biwu jointly with
Soong Ching-ling (
31 Oct 1968 -
24 Feb 1972) (as Vice-Chairmen) :*
Dong Biwu (as sole Vice-Chairman) (
24 Feb 1972 -
17 Jan 1975)
Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
#
Zhu De (17 Jan
1975 - 6 Jul
1976)
2, 3#
Vacant : (6 Jul
1976 - 5 Mar
1978)
4# Ye Jianying (5 Mar 1978 - 18 Jun 1983)Honorary President of the People's Republic of China
# Soong Ching-ling (two weeks before her death; May 16, 1981 - May 28, 1981)Presidents of the People's Republic of China
# Li Xiannian (18 Jun 1983 - 8 Apr 1988)# Yang Shangkun (8 Apr 1988 - 27 Mar 1993)# Jiang Zemin (27 Mar 1993 - 15 Mar 2003)# Hu Jintao (since 15 Mar 2003)#No successor of Liu Shaoqi was selected, so vice-chairman Dong Biwu acted as head of the State (alone from 1972-1975, together with vice-chairwoman Song Qingling from 1969-1972).#The position of Chairman was officially abolished in 1975 and the functions of head of State were formally transmitted to the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.#From July 6, 1976 to March 5, 1978 the position remained vacant. The 20 vice chairmen of the Standing Committee of the NPC collectively executed the duties of head of state.#Vice-chairmen of the Standing Committee during the vacancy: Wu De (b. 1914 - d. 1995), Song Qingling (f) (b. 1893 - d. 1981), Liu Bocheng (b. 1892 - d. 1986), Wei Guoqing (b. 1913 - d. 1989), Seypidin (b. 1915 - d. 2003), Chen Yun (b. 1905 - d. 1995), Tan Zhenlin (b. 1902 - d. 1983), Li Jingquan (b. 1909 - d. 1989), Ulanhu (b. 1904 - d. 1988), Guo Moruo (b. 1892 - d. 1978), Xu Xiangqian (b. 1901 - d. 1990), Nie Rongzhen (b. 1899 - d. 1992), Zhang Dingcheng (b. 1898 - d. 1981), Cai Chang (f) (b. 1900 - d. 1990), Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (b. 1910), Zhou Jianren (b. 1888 - d. 1984), Xu Deheng, Hu Juewen, Li Suwen (f), Yao Lianwei, and, from 2 Dec 1976, Deng Yingchao (f) (b. 1904 - d. 1992).*President of the Republic of China
*Political position ranking of PRC*The President's Website
