Paramount leader

{{Short description|Informal term for the de facto head of state in China}}

{{Chinese

| title =

| name1 = Supreme leader

| s = 最高领导人

| t = {{linktext|最高領導人}}

| p = Zuìgāo Lǐngdǎorén

| l =

| order = st

}}

Paramount leader ({{zh|c=最高领导人|p=Zuìgāo Lǐngdǎorén|l=highest leader}}) is an informal term for the most important political figure in the People's Republic of 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).{{Cite news |date=2022-10-17 |title=China's Communist Party Congress: A really simple guide |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62970531 |access-date=2022-10-27}}{{Cite news |last=Shepherd |first=Christian |date=October 24, 2022 |title=From Mao to Xi: Power plays in the succession of Chinese leadership |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/24/mao-zedong-xi-jinping-china-leaders/ |newspaper=Washington Post}}[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/china_politics/government/html/4.stm "How China is ruled"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116014746/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/china_politics/government/html/4.stm|date=16 January 2007}}. 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.

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 leader of the CCP).{{cite book |editor=Zhiyue Bo |title=China's Elite Politics: Political Transition And Power Balancing|date=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vbLICgAAQBAJ&dq=Deng+Xiaoping+was+able+to+wield+political+power&pg=PA7|page=7|publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company|isbn=9789814476966 }} 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.{{Cite news |last=McGregor |first=Richard |date=2022-08-21 |title=Xi Jinping's Radical Secrecy |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/08/china-xi-jinping-biography-opacity/671195/ |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Sheridan |first=Michael |title=How Xi Jinping became the world's most powerful man |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/xi-jinping-president-worlds-most-powerful-man-china-2snprgdm5 |access-date=2022-09-12 |issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Tom |date=2022-02-03 |title=Xi and Putin, two of world's most powerful men, to meet in China, US absent |url=https://www.newsweek.com/xi-putin-most-powerful-men-meet-china-us-absent-1675570 |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=Newsweek |language=en}}

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. However, Deng's successors derive their real power from the post of general secretary, which is the primary position in the Chinese power structure{{cite news|title=Ending Term Limits for China's Xi Is a Big Deal. Here's Why. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-term-limit-explainer.html |date=10 March 2018|work=The New York Times|author=Chris Buckley and Adam Wu|quote=Is the presidency powerful in China? In China, the political job that matters most is the general secretary of the Communist Party. The party controls the military and domestic security forces, and sets the policies that the government carries out. China's presidency lacks the authority of the American and French presidencies|access-date=12 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312103512/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-term-limit-explainer.html|archive-date=12 March 2018|url-status=live}}. and generally regarded by scholars as the post whose holder can be considered paramount leader.{{cite news|title=Xi's here to stay: China leader tipped to outstay term|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/afp-xis-here-to-stay-china-leader-tipped-to-outstay-term-2016-8|work=Business Insider|date=9 August 2016|quote='A lot of analysts now see it as a given that Xi will seek to stay party general secretary, the country's most powerful post,' said Christopher K. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and now China specialist at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.|access-date=23 September 2017}} The presidency is a largely ceremonial office according to the Constitution,{{NoteTag|The prestigious office of president, first held by Mao Zedong and then officially translated into English as "chairman", was abolished during the Cultural Revolution. The Constitution of 1982 restored powers and functions of the President of the People's Republic of China as state representative, and specified that the official translation was "president", even though the Chinese name for the office, {{zh |s=主席 |t=主席 |p=Zhǔxí |labels=no}}, is unchanged and means "chairman" in other contexts, contrasted with {{zh |s=总统 |t=總統 |p=Zǒngtǒng |labels=no}} for the presidents of republics and other countries. This office does not have executive authority comparable to the President of the United States since most of its powers are ceremonial. The President of China can therefore be compared with the President of Germany and contrasted with the President of India, who theoretically possesses great executive power exercised in practice by the Union Council of Ministers.[http://www.kkhsou.in/main/polscience/structure_function.html "Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502002431/http://www.kkhsou.in/main/polscience/structure_function.html |date=2 May 2014 }}. "Executive: The President of the Chinese Republic".}} and the most powerful position in the Chinese political system is the CCP general secretary.{{cite news |title = Stop Calling China's Xi Jinping 'President,' U.S. Panel Says |url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/stop-calling-chinas-xi-jinping-president-u-s-panel-says-11573740000 |date=14 November 2019 |newspaper = The Wall Street Journal |first1=Kate |last1= O'Keeffe |first2 = Katy Stech |last2 = Ferek |access-date=16 November 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191115142227/https://www.wsj.com/articles/stop-calling-chinas-xi-jinping-president-u-s-panel-says-11573740000 |archive-date=15 November 2019 |url-status=live }}. The general secretary has been the highest-ranking official in China's political system since 1982.{{NoteTag|The de facto leader Deng Xiaoping was 3rd ranking official in the 12th Politburo Standing Committee, and 2nd ranking official in the 13th Central Committee, after General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, but before President Yang Shangkun and Premier Li Peng. Deng at the time served as Chairman of the Central Military Commission and was ranked third or second overall in the leadership hierarchy.}}

Xi Jinping is the current paramount leader.{{Cite news|title=View China's Xi as Party Leader, Not President, Scholars Say|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/view-china-s-xi-as-party-leader-not-president-scholars-say/6780982.html|work=Voice of America|date=2022-10-07|quote=But Clarke and other scholars make the point that Xi’s real power lies not in his post as president but in his position as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.}} 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.{{Cite news |url = https://multimedia.scmp.com/widgets/china/cpc-primer/ |title = A simple guide to the Chinese government |work = South China Morning Post |quote = Xi Jinping is the most powerful figure in the Chinese political system. He is the President of China, but his real influence comes from his position as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. |access-date = 12 May 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180513080847/https://multimedia.scmp.com/widgets/china/cpc-primer/ |archive-date = 13 May 2018 |url-status = live }}

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.{{Cite book|last=Baum|first=Richard|title=The Fall and Rise of China}}

Beginning in the 1980s, the CCP leadership desired to prevent a single leader from rising above the party, as Chairman Mao had done. Accordingly, the post of CCP Chairman was abolished in 1982. Most of its functions were transferred to the revived post of General Secretary.{{Cite web|title=China - Constitution, Government, Politics|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/China/Constitutional-framework|website=Britannica|quote=The decision to redefine the position was part of the effort to reduce the chances of any one leader’s again rising to a position above the party, as Mao had done. China’s government still has a chairmanship, but the office has only limited power and is largely ceremonial.}} 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|date=August 2022}} 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|date=November 2021}}

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".Deng, Xiaoping. Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 3 [Chinese edition] 邓小平文集·第三卷, pp. 309-314. People's Publishing House, 1993. 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.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

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. This was particularly apparent during the tenure of Hu Jintao.{{NoteTag|In official pronouncements when describing the existing leadership of the party, state media referred to the party under Hu as the "party center with comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary" in contrast to the party under Jiang being described as the "party center with comrade Jiang Zemin as its core (核心)". Some analysts saw this change as a signal that collective leadership was being embraced over personal leadership.}} 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.[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/constitution/constitution.html "Section 2, Article 80–81"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812224210/http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/constitution/constitution.html |date=12 August 2010 }}.

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.{{cite news |title=习近平频现身成常态将回归"领导核心"？ |url=http://china.dwnews.com/news/2014-01-07/59365920.html |website=Duowei News |date=7 January 2014 |access-date=5 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812101411/http://china.dwnews.com/news/2014-01-07/59365920.html |archive-date=12 August 2014 |url-status=dead }} 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.{{Cite news|url=https://multimedia.scmp.com/widgets/china/govt-explainer/index.html|title=How the Chinese government works|work=South China Morning Post|quote=Xi Jinping is the most powerful figure in China's political system, and his influence mainly comes from his position as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|access-date=12 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512112538/https://multimedia.scmp.com/widgets/china/govt-explainer/index.html|archive-date=12 May 2018|url-status=live}}.

List of paramount leaders

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

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Picture

! Name

! Period

! Ideology
{{small|(Generation)}}

! CCP leaders

! Presidents

! Premiers

! colspan=2| Offices held

rowspan=7| 100px

| rowspan=7| Mao Zedong
{{lang|zh|毛泽东}}
(1893–1976)

| rowspan=7| 1 October 1949
↓
9 September 1976
({{age in years and days|1949|10|1|1976|9|9}})

| rowspan=7| Mao Zedong Thought
(First)

| rowspan=7| Himself

| rowspan=7| Himself
Liu Shaoqi
Post abolished

| rowspan=7| Zhou Enlai
Hua Guofeng

| align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Politburo

| rowspan=2| 20 March 1943 – 28 September 1956

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Secretariat

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Committee

| 19 June 1945 – 9 September 1976

align=left| Chairman of the PRC Central People's Government

| 1 October 1949 – 27 September 1954

align=left| Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee

| 9 October 1949 – 25 December 1954

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission

| 8 September 1954 – 9 September 1976

align=left| Chairman of the PRC

| 27 September 1954 – 27 April 1959

rowspan=4| 100px

| rowspan=4| Hua Guofeng
{{lang|zh|华国锋}}
(1921–2008)

| rowspan=4| 9 September 1976
↓
22 December 1978
({{age in years and days|1976|9|9|1978|12|22}})

| rowspan=4| Two Whatevers
(First)

| rowspan=4| Himself

| rowspan=4| Post abolished

| rowspan=4| Himself

| align=left| Premier of the PRC State Council

| 4 February 1976 – 10 September 1980

align=left| First Vice Chairman of the CCP Central Committee

| 7 April 1976 – 7 October 1976

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Committee

| rowspan=2 | 7 October 1976 – 28 June 1981

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission

rowspan=5| 100px

| rowspan=5| Deng Xiaoping
{{lang|zh|邓小平}}
(1904–1997)

| rowspan=5| 22 December 1978
↓
24 June 1989
({{age in years and days|1978|12|22|1989|6|24}})"Verdict of the Central Committee on the Major Accomplishments and Historical Experience of the Communist Party during the Past 100 Years". Zhonggong Zhongyang Guanyu Dang de Bainian Fendou Zhongda Chengjiu he Lishi Jingyan de Jueyi 中共中央关于党的百年奋斗重大成就和历史经验的决议. People's Publishing House, 2021.

| rowspan=5| Deng Xiaoping Theory
(Second)

| rowspan=5| Hua Guofeng
Hu Yaobang
Zhao Ziyang
Jiang Zemin

| rowspan=5| Post abolished
Li Xiannian
Yang Shangkun

| rowspan=5| Hua Guofeng
Zhao Ziyang
Li Peng

| align=left| First Vice Premier of the PRC State Council

| 17 January 1975 – 18 June 1983

align=left| Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee

| 8 March 1978 – 17 June 1983

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission

| 28 June 1981 – 9 November 1989

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Advisory Commission

| 13 September 1982 – 2 November 1987

align=left| Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission

| 6 June 1983 – 19 March 1990

rowspan=4| 100px

| rowspan=4| Jiang Zemin
{{lang|zh|江泽民}}
(1926–2022)

| rowspan=4| 24 June 1989
↓
15 November 2002
({{age in years and days|1989|6|24|2002|11|15}})"Verdict of the Central Committee on the Major Accomplishments and Historical Experience of the Communist Party during the Past 100 Years". Zhonggong Zhongyang Guanyu Dang de Bainian Fendou Zhongda Chengjiu he Lishi Jingyan de Jueyi 中共中央关于党的百年奋斗重大成就和历史经验的决议. People's Publishing House, 2021.

| rowspan=4| Three Represents
(Third)

| rowspan=4| Himself

| rowspan=4| Yang Shangkun
Himself

| rowspan=4| Li Peng
Zhu Rongji

| align=left| General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee

| 24 June 1989 – 15 November 2002

align=left| Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission

| 9 November 1989 – 19 September 2004

align=left| Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission

| 19 March 1990 – 13 March 2005

align=left| President of the PRC

| 27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003