President of the People's Republic of China

The President of the People's Republic of China (Chinese: 中华人民共和国主席 pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Zhǔxí, or abbreviated Guojia-Zhuxi ????) is the head of state of the People's Republic of China. The office was created by the 1982 Constitution. Formally, the President is elected by the National People's Congress in accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution. In practice, this election falls into the category of 'single-candidate' elections. The candidate is recommended by the Presidium of the National People's Congress.

The President and the Military

The relationship between the President and the military is a bit more murky. The potential for conflict is lessened when, as during the Jiang era, the President is also chairman of the state Central Military Commission. However, there is a source of potential conflict when this is not the case, shown by the situation in 2003 when top communist leader Hu Jintao was elected President without being elected the CMC chair. In addition, most of the members of both the Party and the State Central Military Commission are uniformed senior generals, giving the People's Liberation Army a degree of autonomy. This autonomy, however, is limited by the existence of political officers.

Related Topics:
Central Military Commission - Hu Jintao - People's Liberation Army - Political officer

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In principle, when the President is also party general secretary, he could order the Party Central Military Commission to order the state Central Military Commission to do something, however how this would work in a crisis is unclear.

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There have been proposals to constitutionally change the system of command to form a National Security Council, modelled after the National Security Council of the United States, which would give the President undisputed command of the military which would then be just another ministry. These proposals are not being actively discussed because of opposition from senior generals and because such acts would be seen as a political attack against the Chairman of the CMC, Jiang Zemin. In September, 2004, Jiang stepped down as Chairman of the commission. President Hu Jintao became the undisputed Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

Related Topics:
National Security Council of the United States - Chairman of the CMC - Jiang Zemin - Hu Jintao

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