Premier of the People's Republic of China

Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent Wen Jiabao since 16 March 2003
Residence	Zhongnanhai
Nominator	the President of the People's Republic of China
Appointer	the National People's Congress
Term length	five years, renewable once consecutively
Inaugural holder	Zhou Enlai
Formation	27 September 1954 (&1000000000000005700000057 years, &1000000000000005000000050 days)
Website	State Council

People's Republic of China

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the People's Republic of China

Communist Party National Congress Central Committee General Secretary: Hu Jintao (Leader) Central Politburo Politburo Standing Committee Central Secretariat First secretary: Xi Jinping CPC Central Military Commission Chairman: Hu Jintao Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary: He Guoqiang Government National People's Congress NPC Standing Committee NPCSC Chairman: Wu Bangguo President: Hu Jintao Vice President: Xi Jinping State Council (Central People's Government) Premier: Wen Jiabao Vice Premiers 1st ranking: Li Keqiang State Councilors PRC Central Military Commission Chairman: Hu Jintao Supreme People's Court President: Wang Shengjun Supreme People's Procuratorate Procurator-General: Han Zhubin United Front Political Consultative Conference National Committee Chairman: Jia Qinglin Minor political parties Military Central Military Commission Chairman: Hu Jintao People's Liberation Army People's Armed Police Force State Council National Defense Mobilization Commission Chairman: Wen Jiabao Ministry of National Defense Minister: Liang Guanglie Constitution Constitutional history 1954 1975 1978 1982 (present) Law Legislative system List of statutes Central Political and Legislative Affairs Committee Secretary: Zhou Yongkang Judicial system Court system Ideology Guiding Political Ideologies Mao Zedong: Mao Zedong Thought Deng Xiaoping: Deng Xiaoping Theory Jiang Zemin: Three Represents Hu Jintao: Scientific Development Concept Other issues Elections (2003 · 2008) Administrative divisions Human rights Foreign relations (United Nations) Foreign aid

Other countries · Atlas Politics portal view · talk · edit

The Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国国务院总理; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國國務院總理; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Guówùyuàn Zŏnglĭ), sometimes also referred to as the "Prime Minister" informally, is the Leader of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (the "Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China" after 1954), who is the head of government and holds the highest-ranking (Level 1) of the Civil service of the People's Republic of China. This position was originally known as Premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government (Chinese: 中央人民政府政务院总理) and changed to its current name in 1954. The Premier is formally approved by the National People's Congress upon the apparent nomination of the President. In practice, the candidate is recommended by the Politburo of the Communist Party of China. Both the President and the Premier are selected once every five years. The Premier has always been a member of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Powers and duties

The Premier is the highest administrative position in the Government of the People's Republic of China. The Premier is responsible for organizing and administering the Chinese civil bureaucracy. This includes overseeing the various ministries, departments, commissions and statutory agencies and announcing their candidacies to the National People's Congress for Vice-Premiers, State Councillors and ministry offices. Apparently, the Premier does not have authority over the People's Liberation Army, but the Premier is the Head of the National Defence Mobilization Committee of China which is a department of armed forces redeployment. In recent years, there has been a division of responsibilities between the Premier and the General Secretary of CPC wherein the Premier is responsible for the technical details of implementing government policy while the General Secretary gathers the political support necessary for government policy.

In 1989, then Premier Li Peng, in cooperation with the then Chairman of the Central Military Commission Deng Xiaoping, was able to use the office of the Premier to declare martial law in Beijing and order the military crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

The Premier has been supported by four Vice-Premiers since Deng Xiaoping's reform in 1983.

List of premiers

Main article: List of premiers of the People's Republic of China

Living former premiers

• 

  Li Peng, 1988–1998

• 

  Zhu Rongji, 1998-2003

See also

• List of premiers of China
• Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China
• President of the People's Republic of China
• List of Chinese leaders
• Paramount Leader
• Political position ranking of PRC

External links

• Official PRC Government Website