Politics of China
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.
This article is about the politics of the People's Republic of China. For other uses, see Politics of China (disambiguation).
Politics of the
People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国的政治
People's Republic of China
Communist state under the system of people's congress
Zhang Jun (President)
Ying Yong (Prosecutor-General)
The Chinese political system is considered authoritarian.[1][2][3][4][5][6] There are no freely elected national leaders, political opposition is suppressed, all religious activity is controlled by the CCP, dissent is not permitted, and civil rights are curtailed.[7][8] Direct elections occur only at the local level, not the national level, with all candidate nominations controlled by the CCP.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
The nature of the elections is highly constrained by the CCP's monopoly on power in China, censorship, and party control over elections.[15][16] According to academic Rory Truex of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, "the CCP tightly controls the nomination and election processes at every level in the people's congress system... the tiered, indirect electoral mechanism in the People's Congress system ensures that deputies at the highest levels face no semblance of electoral accountability to the Chinese citizenry."[17]
Self-description[edit]
The Chinese constitution describes China's system of government as a people's democratic dictatorship.[41] The CCP has also used other terms to officially describe China's system of government including "socialist consultative democracy", and whole-process people's democracy.[42] According to the CCP theoretical journal Qiushi, "[c]onsultative democracy was created by the CPC and the Chinese people as a form of socialist democracy. ... Not only representing a commitment to socialism, it carries forward China's political and cultural traditions. Not only representing a commitment to the organizational principles and leadership mode of democratic centralism, it also affirms the role of the general public in a democracy. Not only representing a commitment to the leadership of the CPC, it also gives play to the role of all political parties and organizations as well as people of all ethnic groups and all sectors of society".[43] The semi-official journal China Today stated the CCP's view: "Consultative democracy guarantees widespread and effective participation in politics through consultations carried out by political parties, peoples congresses, government departments, CPPCC committees, peoples organizations, communities, and social organizations".[44] On the other hand, according to the V-Dem Democracy indices China was 2023 the second least electoral democratic country in Asia.[45]
State Council[edit]
The Premier of China is the head of government, presiding over the State Council composed of four vice premiers and the heads of ministries and commissions.