Some special cases are the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau where the Communist Party does not function at all as part of the governmental system, and the autonomous regions where, following Soviet practice, the chief executive is typically a member of the local ethnic group while the party general secretary is non-local and usually Han Chinese.
It meets annually for about 2 weeks to review and approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel changes.
Although the NPC generally approves State Council policy and personnel recommendations, the NPC and its standing committee has increasingly asserted its role as the national legislature and has been able to force revisions in some laws. Currently, local government in China is structured in a hierarchy on four different levels.
With the village being the grassroots usually a hundred or so families , and not considered part of the hierarchy, local government advances through the township , county , prefecture or municipality , and the province as the geographical area of jurisdiction increases. Each level in the hierarchy is responsible for overseeing the work carried out by lower levels on the administrative strata. At each level are two important officials. A figure that represents the Communist Party of China, colloquially termed the Party chief or the Party Secretary , acts as the policy maker.
This figure is appointed by their superiors. The head of the local People's Government , is, in theory, elected by the people. Usually called a governor , mayor , or magistrate , depending on the level, this figure acts to carry out the policies and most ceremonial duties. The distinction has evolved into a system where the Party Secretary is always in precedence above the leader of the People's Government. After Deng Xiaoping took power in greater autonomy has been given to provinces in terms of economic policy implementation as well as other areas of policy such as education and transportation.
As a result, some provincial authorities have evolved tendencies of operating on a de facto federal system with Beijing. Prominent examples of greater autonomy are seen in the provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang , where local leaders do little to adhere to the strict standards issued by the Central Government, especially economic policy. In addition, conflicts have arisen in the relations of the central Party leaders with the few provincial-level Municipalities, most notably the municipal government of Shanghai and the rivalry between former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong and Jiang Zemin.
China's system of autonomous regions and autonomous prefectures within provinces are formally intended to provide for greater autonomy by the ethnic group majority that inhabits the region. In practice, however, power rests with the Party secretary. Beijing will often appoint loyal party cadres to oversee the local work as Party secretary, while the local Chairman of the region's government is regarded as its nominal head.
Power rests with the Party secretary. To avoid the solidification of local loyalties during a cadre's term in office, the central government freely and frequently transfers party cadres around different regions of the country, so a high ranking cadre's career might include service as governor or party secretary of several different provinces.
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The Party and the State jointly established the Central Military Commission that carries out the task of supreme military leadership over the armed forces. The PRC Constitution provides that the State Chairman President directs the armed forces and made the State Chairman the chair of the Defense Commission the Defense Commission is an advisory body, it does not lead the armed forces. From that time onwards, the system of joint Party and state military leadership was established.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party leads in all military affairs. The State Chairman directs the state military forces and the development of the military forces managed by the State Council. However, the CMC of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China remained the Party organization that directly leads the military and all the other armed forces. However, looking at it organizationally, these two CMCs are subordinate to two different systems — the Party system and the State system.
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Therefore, the armed forces are under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party and are also the armed forces of the state. This is a unique Chinese system that ensures the joint leadership of the Communist Party and the state over the armed forces.
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No substantial legal political opposition groups exist, and the country is mainly run by the Communist Party of China CPC , but there are other political parties in the PRC, called "democratic parties", which participate in the People's Political Consultative Conference but mostly serve to endorse CPC policies.
Even as there have been some moves in the direction of democratisation as far as the electoral system at least, in that openly contested People's Congress elections are now held at the village and town levels, [24] and that legislatures have shown some assertiveness from time to time, the party retains effective control over governmental appointments. This is because the CPC wins by default in most electorates. Current political concerns in Mainland China include countering the growing gap between the wealthy and the poorer, and fighting corruption within the government leadership and its institutions.
Also, private conversations and anecdotal information often reveal conflicting views. However, according to a survey conducted in Hong Kong, where a relatively high level of freedom is enjoyed, the current CPC leaders have received substantial votes of support when its residents were asked to rank their favourite Chinese leaders from Mainland and Taiwan.
The eight registered minor parties have existed since before Their original function was to create the impression that the PRC was being ruled by a diverse national front, not a one-party dictatorship. The major role of these parties is to attract and subsequently muzzle niches in society that have political tendencies, such as the academia. Although these parties are tightly controlled and do not challenge the Communist Party, members of the parties often individually are found in policy-making national institutions, and there is a convention that state institutions generally have at least one sinecure from a minor political party.
Coordination between the eight registered minor parties and the Communist Party of China is done through the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference which meets annually in Beijing in March at about the same time that the National People's Congress meets. In addition, there are a few minor parties which either lack official recognition or are actively suppressed by the government, such as the Maoist Communist Party of China , China Democracy Party and China New Democracy Party , which have their headquarters outside of the Mainland China. The Chinese legal code is a complex amalgam of custom and statute, largely focused on criminal law, though a rudimentary civil code has been in effect since January 1, and new legal codes have been in effect since January 1, Continuing efforts are being made to improve civil, administrative, criminal, and commercial law.
Although current law of China cannot be categorised by arbitrary rule, it is over-simplifying to describe it as a system of rule of law. While personal freedom and right to private property is nominally guaranteed by law, officials maintain the right to trespass citizens before proving or suspecting them breaking the law through the use of Droit administrati.
In other words, the concept of Habeas corpus does not apply in China. Also, Party members are subjected to different sets of law, namely the Constitution of the Communist Party of China , which authorises itself to use state apparatus to regulate behaviours of party members, sometimes overriding Law of the land. One of the most distinctive characteristics of the Chinese law is the lack of a mechanism to verify the constitutionality of statute laws.
This in effect allows the enactment of any administrative laws as long as circumstances justify. The government's efforts to promote rule by law not the same as rule of law are significant and ongoing. After the Cultural Revolution , the PRC's leaders aimed to develop a legal system to restrain abuses of official authority and revolutionary excesses. In , the National People's Congress adopted a new state constitution that emphasized the concept of rule by law by which party and state organizations are all subject to the law. The importance of the rule by law was further elevated by a Constitutional amendment.
Many commentators [ who? Since , when the drive to establish a functioning legal system began, more than laws and regulations, most of them in the economic area, have been promulgated.
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After China's entry into the WTO , many new economically related laws have been put in place, while others have been amended. There are more than , such committees in both rural and urban areas. Legal reform became a government priority in the s. Legislation designed to modernize and professionalize the nation's lawyers, judges, and prisons was enacted. The Administrative Procedure Law allows citizens to sue officials for abuse of authority or malfeasance. In addition, the criminal law and the criminal procedures laws were amended to introduce significant reforms.
The criminal law amendments abolished the crime of "counter-revolutionary" activity and references to "counter-revolutionaries" disappeared with the passing of the Constitutional amendment , while criminal procedures reforms encouraged establishment of a more transparent, adversarial trial process.
The PRC Constitution and laws provide for fundamental human rights, including due process, although those laws also provide for limitations of those rights. Although the human rights situation in mainland China has improved markedly since the s the Constitutional amendments specifically stressed that the State protects human rights , the government remains determined to prevent any organized opposition to its rule.
Amnesty International estimates that the PRC holds several thousand political prisoners. Although illegal, there have been reports of torture by civil authorities. Nationality is granted at birth to children with at least one Chinese-national parent, with some exceptions. In general, naturalization or the obtainment of People's Republic of China nationality is difficult. International Challenges to Rising China 5. Xi Jinping's Grand Strategy: From Vision to Implementation.
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Chinese Security Policy: Structure, Power and Politics - Robert Ross - Google Livres
China is also working to forge an appropriate balance among economic construction, population growth, resource consumption, and protection of the natural environment; to place democracy and constitutional government on a sound footing; and to set Chinese society as a whole on a path toward civilized development through enhanced production, higher quality of life, and environmental improvement. Only by proceeding down this path will China be able to deal appropriately with every new security issue and to achieve sustainable, safe, and rapid development. But in the face of new challenges, China will be compelled to take on a new global role.
As well as pursuing sustainable development based on its domestic circumstances and becoming an engine of growth for the world economy, it will have to make further contributions toward protecting the resources shared by all humankind. If it is to adhere to this policy, China will have to minimize economic friction and resource competition with other countries while refraining from expanding its military capabilities. China will also be compelled to make its own innovations, broaden its investment in science and technology and education, and contribute proactively to international cooperation.
The second characteristic of contemporary world politics is the worldwide resurgence of religious forces and various forms of nationalism. As a major civilization with ancient roots, China has witnessed a good deal of global ideological turmoil and cultural innovation. Chinese civilization is essentially an amalgam of different cultures, religions, and ethnic traits, and is accordingly very diverse. Chinese people advocate the mutual fusion of civilizations and cultures; they do not support separation, enmity, or ethnic division, let alone the settling of religious, sectarian, ethnic, or national conflicts by means of violence.
The role that China can and, indeed, should fulfill is that of a nation that mediates between different civilizations and peoples and promotes global harmony. In reality, the concept of harmony advocated by China is also expressed in other cultures and religions throughout the world; only the modes of understanding and expression differ.
At the same time, they will deepen common perceptions and promote mutual understanding with countries of differing social systems and values. The third characteristic of contemporary world politics is that the centers of power and wealth and the engines of growth are shifting. China, India, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and other emerging countries are seizing the opportunity for growth provided by globalization, rapidly augmenting their national power and exerting greater international influence.
China does not determine its security policy or organize or participate in military alliances based on a demarcation between East and West, however. China maintains a policy of openness in its cooperative relations with the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, while also taking into consideration the interests and requests of countries outside the region.
Its economic cooperation has already become global in scale. China has experienced the most rapid development of any emerging economy, such that its demands on external resources and markets have reached considerable proportions.