Premier of the People's Republic of China

The post was initially established by Organic Law of the Central People's Government, passed by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 29 September 1949, as the premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government.[2] Zhou Enlai was appointed as premier immediately after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1 October 1949.[3] With the adoption of a constitution in 1954, the post was renamed into the premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.[4]

Since the 1980s, there has been a division of responsibilities between the premier and the CCP general secretary wherein the premier is responsible for the economy and the technical details of implementing government policy while the general secretary gathers the political support necessary for government policy.[5] However, this has been overturned under the leadership of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, who has centralized power around himself, and taken responsibility over areas that were traditionally the domain of the premier, including the economy.[5]

The premier was historically chosen within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through deliberations by incumbent CCP Politburo members and retired CCP Politburo members as part of the process of determining membership in the incoming new CCP Politburo Standing Committee. Under this informal process, the eventual future premier is initially chosen as a vice premier before assuming the position of premier during a subsequent round of leadership transitions.[6] This changed under Xi, with his ally and current premier Li Qiang never having served as vice premier.[7]

Officially, the premier is approved by the National People's Congress (NPC) upon the nomination of the president.[8] In practice, the premier is chosen within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, including the Politburo Standing Committee.[6][7] The premier has been supported by four vice premiers since Deng Xiaoping's reform in 1983.[9] The first-ranked vice premier acts in the premier's capacity in their absence. Both the premier and the vice premiers are selected once every five years and are limited to two terms.[8] The premier has always been a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

The premier is the highest administrative position in the Government of China. The premier heads the State Council[10] and is responsible for organizing and administering the Chinese civil bureaucracy. For example, the premier is tasked with planning and implementing national economic, social development and the state budget.[8][11] This includes overseeing the various ministries, departments, commissions and statutory agencies[7] and nominating candidates for vice premiers, state councillors and ministerial offices to the NPC.[8] The premier can also propose the establishment, merger or dissolution of ministries, which would then be decided upon by the NPC or its Standing Committee.[12]

The premier chairs the plenary and executive meetings of the State Council. The executive meetings include the premier, vice premiers, state councillors and the secretary-general of the State Council,[8] and are held two or three times a month, and can be held in any time if necessary.[13] The State Council has the authority to issue proposals to the NPC and its Standing Committee and draft administrative regulations, which must be endorsed by the premier.[11][13] The premier also signs the decree approving the appointments of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and the Chief Executive of Macau.[11]

The premier does not have command authority over the armed forces, but is generally the head of the National Defense Mobilization Commission which is a department of the armed forces.[14] The State Council has the authority to impose martial law in subdivisions below the provincial-level administrative divisions, which the premier then proclaims in an order;[11][15] premier Li Peng used the authority to impose martial law in parts of Beijing and to order the military crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.[16]

• List of leaders of the People's Republic of China
• List of premiers of China
• List of Chinese leaders

• Official website
• Corpus of Political Speeches Free access to the Prime Minister’s work report and political speeches from other regions, developed by the Hong Kong Baptist University Library.