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Last reviewed: 27 January 2009

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POLITICS

Recent Political Developments

President Hu's first term was spent consolidating his position and proceeding with economic reform. But he recognised the potential for instability caused by the previous strong focus on promoting high growth as the overriding policy priority. Examples of the imbalances this has caused in society include:

  • wide income imbalances between rich, eastern coastal cities, and poorer inland cities
  • income differences between urban and rural dwellers - the average urban resident of Beijing earns around RMB 2000 a month (around £130), but 135 million people in China still live below the international poverty line of US$ 1 a day, and up to 500 million on US$ 2 a day
  • a collapse of the health insurance scheme, which means that 80% of all healthcare costs have to be paid in cash at the time of consumption
  • inequalities between urban residents and migrant labourers who have moved to the cities. Unable to transfer their official place of residence, they cannot access public services, including education for their children
  • rampant corruption by those in public office
  • 87,000 incidents of mass violence which took place in 2005, often provoked by land expropriations or lay-offs from state-owned enterprises.

Under the slogan of a "harmonious society", he is therefore promoting a range of policies in the health, education, environment and other fields which will address social inequality. But these policies will not be allowed to compromise economic growth and reform.

The 17th Party Congress of October 2007 provided President Hu with an opportunity to put his own stamp on the ideological agenda, advance his preferred candidates to senior positions and secure a political succession consistent with that programme. Whilst the "harmonious society" remained pre-eminent, Hu's singular success was in having his theory of "scientific development" written into the Party Constitution.

This means that although economic development will remain the key goal, growth will be balanced and sustainable in order to address imbalances in society between the prosperous cities and the impoverished rural hinterland. Although this will require innovation in methodology, it will also be gradual and measured, not radical. This is indicative of Hu's consensus building style, following neither those advocating continued economic reform at all costs, nor the so-called 'new Left' who have called for more focus on social issues.

Although "democracy" was mentioned over 50 times in President Hu's speech, this was very much qualified as "democracy with Chinese characteristics" or "socialist democracy". He alluded to novel methods to increase popular participation in politics to effect electoral reforms at grass roots levels, and even allow direct elections of Party officials in limited circumstances at local levels. Yet the driving purpose is to ensure the long term stability of one-party rule under the CCP.

The senior Party hierarchy after the 17th Congress may similarly represent consensus rather than a definitive Hu Jintao 'stamp'. We have little doubt that the President has prevailed in placing his successor(s) at the peak of the Party to assume power in 2012, although this has been done in such a way to co-opt competing interests behind his overall programme.

Political Structure

China has all the structures a modern democratic state would expect to have, with in theory a separation of powers between the different functions of state similar to most western democracies. But all structures are subordinate to the leadership of the CCP.

  • The Legislature: Key laws are passed by the National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee. The NPC has around two thousand members, and only meets in full session for a fortnight every March. Outside that time, a Standing Committee of around three hundred members carries out business. The Chairman is Wu Bangguo. Members are "elected" from Provincial and Municipal People's Congresses, who are in turn "elected" from People's Congresses below them. Only at the lowest level are members "elected" by the public, but from a very narrow slate of approved candidates. (NB see "Village elections" below). A handful of independents manage to get elected. The NPC also votes the executive into office.
  • The Executive: The Government is headed by Wen Jiabao, who is Premier. There are 4 Vice Premiers, 5 State Councillors, 28 Ministers, and 50 Offices, Institutions or Bureaux under the State Council or other Ministries. Between them they carry out all the functions of government, from health policy to water resources, to meteorology. Two bodies many would not expect to be part of government are Xinhua, the news agency, and the State Administration of Religious Affairs, which are directly under the State Council. 
  • The Judiciary: there are several levels of People's Courts which hear both criminal and civil cases (though the majority of criminal cases are actually dealt with by the police as administrative cases). The People's Procuratorate acts as an investigator and public prosecutor. Officially, the courts continue to be instruments of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat', and there is provision for political involvement in their judgements. 

In the next layer down from central government, China has 22 provinces ; 4 municipalities directly under the central government (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); 5 autonomous regions (Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Guangxi); and 2 Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao).

The full hierarchy of government is:

  • central government 
  • province, municipality or autonomous region 
  • prefecture or city 
  • county or district 
  • township 
  • village (though see below).

A province may contain within it autonomous counties or towns where there is a large ethnic minority population. Each layer of government will have departments similar to those of central government; a Communist Party Committee; a People's Congress; and a Political Consultative Committee. The head of government in each province is the Governor, but in practice the provincial Party Secretary is more powerful.

Villages are now officially regarded as self-governing (and therefore not part of the formal government hierarchy). There are direct popular elections to village committees. They are responsible for providing some public services, and receive a budget from higher authorities to do so. They have no revenue-raising powers of their own. The quality of the elections varies, but they are more or less free and fair.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (and its provincial and local off-shoots) brings together all permitted strands of political opinion and activity in China. It is not the legislature, but its main annual meeting comes just ahead of the NPC, and its views are officially fed into the NPC. Its Chairman is Jia Qinglin. Its main components are:

  • China's 8 political parties other than the Chinese Communist Party (known collectively as the 'United Front'). They include the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang; the China Democratic League; and the China Democratic National Construction Association. They are small, and all accept in their constitutions the dominant position of the Communist Party. 
  • Representatives of China's "mass organisations": the Communist Youth League, The All-China Federation of Trade Unions; the All China Women's Federation; and 50 other organisations covering everything from film artists to religious organisations.

In the next layer down from central government, China claims 23 provinces (as it includes Taiwan); 4 municipalities directly under the central government (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); 5 autonomous regions (Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Guangxi Zhuang); and 2 Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao).

The full hierarchy of government is:

  • central government
  • province, municipality or autonomous region
  • prefecture or city
  • county or district
  • township
  • village (though see below).

A province may contain within it autonomous counties or towns where there is a large ethnic minority population. Each layer of government will have departments similar to those of central government; a People's Congress; a Political Consultative Committee (and a Communist Party Committee). The head of government in each province is the Governor, but in practice the provincial Party Secretary is more powerful.

Villages are now officially regarded as theoretically self-governing (and therefore not part of the formal government hierarchy). There are direct popular elections to village committees. They are responsible for providing some public services, and receive a budget from higher authorities to do so. They have no revenue-raising powers of their own. The quality of the elections varies, but they are more or less free and fair.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (and its provincial and local off-shoots) brings together all permitted strands of political opinion and activity in China. It is not the legislature, but its main annual meeting comes just ahead of the NPC, and its views are officially fed into the NPC. Its Chairman is Jia Qinglin. Its main components are:

  • China's 8 political parties other than the Chinese Communist Party (known collectively as the 'United Front'). They include the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang; the China Democratic League; and the China Democratic National Construction Association. They are small, and all accept in their constitutions the dominant position of the Communist Party.
  • Representatives of China's "mass organisations": the Communist Youth League, The All-China Federation of Trade Unions; the All China Women's Federation; and 50 other organisations covering everything from film artists to religious organisations.

The Party

The real power in the land is the Chinese Communist Party. Founded in 1921 and now with around 70 million members, it has ruled China exclusively since 1949.

Party structures

Hu Jintao is General Secretary of the Communist Party. He heads the Politburo, which has 24 full and 1 alternate members. Nine members of the Politburo form a Politburo Standing Committee. They are the real government of China, and agree all major policies of the Party and government in the Standing Committee, using their positions elsewhere in government to implement them. Each member of the Politburo has a particular portfolio or government position, as follows (in order of precedence):

Hu Jintao - President of China, Chair of the Central Military Commission
Wu Bangguo - Chairman of the National People's Congress
Wen Jiabao - Premier
Jia Qinglin - Chair of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Xi Jinping - Vice President of China
Li Keqiang, Hui Liangyu, Zhang Dejiang, Wang Qishan - Vice Premiers
He Guoqiang - in charge of Party discipline
Li Changchun - propaganda
Zhou Yongkang - law and order

The Party has a number of Departments, Committees and Leading Groups to formulate policy which often mirror government Ministries. Notable ones are:

  • Party Central Committee: the national Party committee, which meets once a year in the autumn, and has around 300 members 
  • The Central Military Commission: which is in effect the same thing as the state Central Military Commission, and therefore runs the armed forces 
  • The Commission for Discipline Inspection: responsible for fighting corruption among Party members 
  •  General Office and Central Bodyguards Bureau: which control access to the President 
  •  Organisation Department: in charge of personnel policy and appointments 
  •  Propaganda (or Publicity) Department 
  •  United Front Work Department: manages relations with other political parties, religious organisations and other non-Party organisations 
  •  International Liaison Department: manages relations with political parties in other countries.

Leadership

At the lowest levels there is a limited amount of democracy within the Party. Branch committees are elected from their members. At the highest level, the Party is effectively a self-perpetuating oligarchy. The outgoing Politburo Standing Committee selects its successor and members of the Politburo.

Officially the Politburo and its Standing Committee are appointed at the Party Congress every 5 years. The last Party Congress was in Autumn 2007.

HUMAN RIGHTS

We take a multi-layered approach to engaging China on human rights. We raise a broad range of human rights issues, together with certain individual cases, through our regular UK-China Human Rights Dialogue. The 17th  round of the Dialogue took place in London on 12-13 January 2009. The main themes raised were disability, mental health and China’s co-operation with international human rights mechanismsThe Dialogue is just one strand of a much wider engagement that includes a growing portfolio of successful project work, ministerial and official exchanges. We also work through EU and international mechanisms, , including the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue which took place most recently in Ljubljana on 15 May 2008, under the Slovenian presidency of the EU.

There has been significant progress on social and economic rights in China over the past 25 years: ordinary people can now usually travel freely and choose who to marry and where to work.

But problems remain, particularly on civil and political rights.

Despite signing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1998, China has still not ratified it. China is making progress, but there remain a number of areas where it currently fails to meet ICCPR standards.

Rule of law is undermined by political interference in the judicial process.

The system of Re-education through Labour and other forms of "administrative detention" remain in place, although its scope and the maximum length of sentences are being reduced.

Torture is still a widespread problem. Senior leaders now appear to recognise it as such and are beginning to introduce measures that act as a bar on torture in practice (for example the tape recording of police interrogations).

The freedoms of expression, religion and association are severely restricted. However, China introduced on 1 January 2007 new regulations (to run up to the Olympics in 2008) for foreign correspondents, who no longer have to seek case by case permission to conduct interviews. These regulations were made permanent in October 2008.

The development of civil society is limited, although the Chinese Government recognise the contribution NGOs have made to developing the market economy and social support services in China.

The use of the death penalty remains high, although the Supreme People's Court recovered its right to review all death sentences on 1 January 2007, which we hope will lead to a significant reduction in its use in practice.

Tibet and Xinjiang are still subject to particularly repressive security regimes.

The Dialogue is just one strand of a much wider engagement that includes a growing portfolio of successful project work, ministerial and official exchanges. We also work through EU and international mechanisms, including the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue which took place most recently 18-19 October in Beijing and focussed on freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and reform of the criminal justice system.

There has been significant progress on social and economic rights in China over the past 25 years: ordinary people can now usually travel freely and choose who to marry and where to work.

But problems remain, particularly on civil and political rights.

Despite signing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1998, China has still not ratified it. China is making progress, but there remain a number of areas where it currently fails to meet ICCPR standards.

Rule of law is undermined by political interference in the judicial process.

The system of Re-education through Labour and other forms of "administrative detention" remain in place, although its scope and the maximum length of sentences are being reduced.

Torture is still a widespread problem. Senior leaders now appear to recognise it as such and are beginning to introduce measures that act as a bar on torture in practice (for example the tape recording of police interrogations).

The freedoms of expression, religion and association are severely restricted. However, China introduced on 1 January 2007 new regulations (to run up to the Olympics in 2008) for foreign correspondents, who no longer have to seek case by case permission to conduct interviews.

The development of civil society is limited, although the Chinese Government recognise the contribution NGOs have made to developing the market economy and social support services in China.

The use of the death penalty remains high, although the Supreme People's Court recovered its right to review all death sentences on 1 January 2007, which we hope will lead to a significant reduction in its use in practice.

Tibet and Xinjiang are still subject to particularly repressive security regimes.

Tibet

Successive British Governments have regarded Tibet as autonomous while recognising the special position of the Chinese there.  We regularly urge the Chinese Government to engage in serious negotiations with the Dalai Lama's representatives, without pre-conditions as we see this as the only lasting way to build a peaceful, sustainable and legitimate solution for Tibet.

More information on human rights in China, including Tibet, can be found in the Human Rights Annual Report 2007.

TAIWAN

Taiwan and Penghu (Pescadores) Islands were ceded to Japan following China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. They remained under Japanese rule until Japan's surrender in 1945, when they were occupied by Chinese Nationalist (KMT) forces. Following the Nationalists' defeat on the mainland, the Nationalist government and two million supporters fled to Taiwan. The Nationalist administration on Taiwan maintained its claim to be the legitimate government of the whole of China and set up a national central government on the island.

Reunification with Taiwan remains one of the Chinese government's key objectives. Although China has sought reunification through negotiation, it has not renounced the threat of military action against Taiwan. In March 2005, the PRC National People's Congress (NPC) enacted an Anti Secession Law. The law is largely a codification of China's existing policy towards Taiwan. Although it includes certain measures to promote cross-Strait dialogue and co-operation it also reserves the right to use non-peaceful means in the event that Taiwan 'secedes' or all possibilities for a peaceful reunification have been exhausted.

UK Position

We do not recognise Taiwan as a state and do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. We consider the Taiwan issue is one to be settled by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. We are strongly opposed to any use of force and we look to both sides to avoid unilateral measures which raise tensions across the Strait, to engage in confidence building measures and to find a mutually acceptable basis for resumption of constructive and peaceful dialogue.

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