Paramount leader

Paramount leader (Chinese: 最高领导人; pinyin: Zuìgāo Lǐngdǎorén; literally: 'highest leader') is an informal term for the most important political figure in the China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), often holding the titles of CCP General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).^[1][2][3] The state representative (president) or head of government (premier) are not necessarily paramount leader—under China's party-state system, CCP roles are politically more important than state titles.^[4]

The paramount leader is not a formal position nor an office unto itself. The term gained prominence during the era of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989), when he was able to wield political power without holding any official or formally significant party or government positions at any given time (state representative, head of government or CCP General Secretary).^[5] As the leader of the world's largest economy by GDP purchasing power parity (PPP), the second largest economy by nominal GDP, and a potential superpower, the paramount leader is considered to be one of the world's most powerful political figures.^[6][7][8]

There has been significant overlap between paramount leader status and leadership core status, with a majority but not all of paramount leaders being also leadership cores, though they are separate concepts. The term has been used less frequently to describe Deng's successors, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, who have all formally held the offices of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (party leader), President of the People's Republic of China (state representative) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (commander-in-chief). Jiang, Hu and Xi are therefore usually referred to as president in the international scene, the title used by most other republican heads of state.^[4] However, Deng's successors derive their real power from the post of general secretary, which is the primary position in the Chinese power structure^[9] and generally regarded by scholars as the post whose holder can be considered paramount leader.^[10] The presidency is a largely ceremonial office according to the Constitution,^{[note 1]} and the most powerful position in the Chinese political system is the CCP general secretary.^[12]

Xi Jinping is the current paramount leader.^[13] He is considered to have taken on the role in November 2012, when he became CCP general secretary, rather than in March 2013 when he succeeded Hu Jintao as president.^[14]

History

Chairman Mao Zedong was the undisputed ruler of Communist China from its beginning in 1949 and held three chairman offices at once: Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Chairman of the People's Republic of China (1954–59), making him the leader of the party, military and state, respectively. Following the Cultural Revolution, a rough consensus emerged within the party, that the worst excesses were caused by lack of checks and balances in the exercise of political power and the resulting "rule of personality" by Mao.^[15]

Beginning in the 1980s, the leadership experimented with a quasi-separation of powers, whereby the offices of general secretary, president and premier were held by different people.^{[citation needed]} In 1985, for example, the CCP General Secretary was Hu Yaobang, the Chinese President was Li Xiannian and the Chinese Premier was Zhao Ziyang. However, Deng Xiaoping was still recognized as the core of the leadership. Both Hu and Zhao fell out of favour in the late 1980s, but Deng was able to retain ultimate political control.^{[citation needed]}

In a discussion with Central Committee members in the lead-up 4th Plenum of the Thirteenth Central Committee (Jun. 23-24 1989), Deng Xiaoping introduced the concept of the "Core Leader". In his analysis, despite the existence of figures like Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai, Xiang Zhongfa, Li Lisan, and Wang Ming, the Party did not have a proper "Core Leader" until the ascent of Mao Zedong at the Zunyi Conference of 1935. Mao's election ushered in the "First Generation" of CCP leadership. As for the second generation, Deng conceded that in retrospect, he had himself been the "Core", but that he had been constantly planning for the transition to a third generation. For this purpose, he encouraged his audience to rally around Jiang Zemin as the core of the "Third Generation".^[16] Despite Deng formally relinquishing the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission until the 5th Plenum (Nov. 6-9 1989), official histories published by the CCP regard this endorsement, at the 4th Plenum, as the transition from the Deng administration to the Jiang administration.^{[citation needed]}

The paramount leader label has been applied to Deng's successors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, though it is generally recognized that they did not wield as much power as Deng despite their having held more offices of leadership. There has been a greater emphasis on collective leadership, whereby the top leader is a first among equals style figure, exercising power with the consensus of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee.^[3] This was particularly apparent during the tenure of Hu Jintao.^{[note 2]} Beginning in 1993, Jiang formally held the three offices that made him the head of the party, state, and military:

• General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party: the party leader and the primary position of the state.
• Chairman of the Central Military Commission: Supreme Military Command of the People's Liberation Army.
• President of the People's Republic of China: the largely ceremonial state representative under the 1982 Constitution.^[17]

When Jiang left the offices of General Secretary and President in 2002 and 2003, respectively, he held onto the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Military power had always been an important facet in the exercise of political power in Communist-ruled China and as such holding the top military post meant Jiang retained some formal power. When Jiang stepped down from his formal posts between 2002 and 2004, it was ambiguous who the paramount leader was. Hu Jintao held the same trio of positions during his years in power. Hu transferred all three positions onto his successor Xi Jinping between November 2012, when Xi became CCP General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission; and March 2013, when Xi became president. Since Xi's ascendance to power, two new bodies, the National Security Commission and Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission, have been established, ostensibly concentrating political power in the paramount leader to a greater degree than anyone since Deng.^[18] These bodies were tasked with establishing the general policy direction for national security, as well as economic reform. Both groups are headed by the General Secretary.^[19]

List of paramount leaders

  First administration   Second administration   Third administration    Hu–Wen Administration    Xi–Li Administration/Xi Administration

Bold offices refer to the highest position in the Chinese Communist Party.

Picture	Name	Offices held	Period		Ideology	CCP leaders	Presidents	Premiers
	Mao Zedong 毛泽东 (1893–1976)	Chairman of the CCP Central Politburo	20 March 1943 – 28 September 1956	1 October 1949 ↓ 9 September 1976 (26 years, 344 days)	Mao Zedong Thought	Himself	Himself Liu Shaoqi Post abolished	Zhou Enlai Hua Guofeng
		Chairman of the CCP Central Secretariat
		Chairman of the CCP Central Committee	19 June 1945 – 9 September 1976
		Chairman of the PRC Central People's Government	1 October 1949 – 27 September 1954
		Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee	9 October 1949 – 25 December 1954
		Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	8 September 1954 – 9 September 1976
		Chairman of the PRC	27 September 1954 – 27 April 1959
File:Portrait of Hua Guofeng.jpg	Hua Guofeng 华国锋 (1921–2008)	Premier of the PRC State Council	4 February 1976 – 10 September 1980	9 September 1976 ↓ 22 December 1978 (2 years, 104 days)	Two Whatevers (Mao Zedong Thought)	Himself	Post abolished	Himself
		First Vice Chairman of the CCP Central Committee	7 April 1976 – 7 October 1976
		Chairman of the CCP Central Committee	7 October 1976 – 28 June 1981
		Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission
	Deng Xiaoping 邓小平 (1904–1997)	First Vice Premier of the PRC State Council	17 January 1975 – 18 June 1983	22 December 1978 ↓ 24 June 1989 (10 years, 184 days)[21]	Deng Xiaoping Theory (Socialism with Chinese characteristics)	Hua Guofeng Hu Yaobang Zhao Ziyang Jiang Zemin	Post abolished Li Xiannian Yang Shangkun	Hua Guofeng Zhao Ziyang Li Peng
		Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee	8 March 1978 – 17 June 1983
		Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	28 June 1981 – 9 November 1989
		Chairman of the CCP Central Advisory Commission	13 September 1982 – 2 November 1987
		Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	6 June 1983 – 19 March 1990
	Jiang Zemin 江泽民 (1926–2022)	General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee	24 June 1989 – 15 November 2002	24 June 1989 ↓ 15 November 2002 (13 years, 144 days)[22]	Three Represents	Himself	Yang Shangkun Himself	Li Peng Zhu Rongji
		Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	9 November 1989 – 19 September 2004
		Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	19 March 1990 – 13 March 2005
		President of the PRC	27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003
	Hu Jintao 胡锦涛 (born 1942)	General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee	15 November 2002 – 15 November 2012	15 November 2002 ↓ 15 November 2012 (10 years, 0 days)	Scientific Outlook on Development (Socialist Harmonious Society)	Himself		Wen Jiabao
		President of the PRC	15 March 2003 – 14 March 2013
		Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	19 September 2004 – 15 November 2012
		Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	13 March 2005 – 14 March 2013
	Xi Jinping 习近平 (born 1953)	General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee	15 November 2012 – incumbent	15 November 2012 ↓ Incumbent (11 years, 263 days)	Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (Chinese Dream)	Himself		Li Keqiang Li Qiang
		Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission
		President of the PRC	14 March 2013 – incumbent
		Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission
		Leader of the CCP Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission	30 December 2013 – incumbent
		Chairman of the CCP National Security Commission	25 January 2014 – incumbent

Spouse of the Paramount leader

All six leaders have had a spouse during their terms of office. The current is Peng Liyuan, wife of General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Picture	Name	Leader	Tenure
	Jiang Qing 江青 (1914–1991)	Mao Zedong	1 October 1949 – 9 September 1976
	Han Zhijun 韩芝俊 (born 1930)	Hua Guofeng	9 September 1976 – 22 December 1978
	Zhuo Lin 卓琳 (1916–2009)	Deng Xiaoping	22 December 1978 – 9 November 1989
	Wang Yeping 王冶坪 (born 1928)	Jiang Zemin	9 November 1989 – 15 November 2002
	Liu Yongqing 刘永清 (born 1940)	Hu Jintao	15 November 2002 – 15 November 2012
	Peng Liyuan 彭丽媛 (born 1962)	Xi Jinping	15 November 2012 – Incumbent

See also

• List of Chinese leaders
• Leader of the Chinese Communist Party
• Orders of precedence in the People's Republic of China
• Primus inter pares

Explanatory notes

References

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