Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

The chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is the leader of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China.

Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
中国人民政治协商会议 全国委员会主席
Emblem of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Incumbent Wang Huning since 10 March 2023
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Type	Presiding officer
Status	National leader level official
Member of	Standing Committee of the National Committee Chairperson's Council
Nominator	Presidium of the Plenary Session of the National Committee (chosen within the Chinese Communist Party)
Appointer	Plenary Session of the National Committee
Term length	Five years, renewable
Constituting instrument	Charter of the CPPCC
Inaugural holder	Mao Zedong
Formation	9 October 1949; 74 years ago (1949-10-09)
Deputy	Vice Chairpersons Secretary-General
Salary	CN¥150,000 per annum est. (2015)[1]

Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Simplified Chinese	中国人民政治协商会议全国委员会主席
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó Rénmín Zhèngzhì Xiéshāng Huìyì Quánguó Wěiyuánhuì Zhǔxí
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	全国政协主席
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Quánguó Zhèngxié Zhǔxí

The chairman is officially nominated within the CPPCC National Committee and approved by a plenary session of the National Committee.^[2] The chairman is a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee, which handles the regular affairs of the body, and presides over its work.^[2] The chairman is also a member of the Chairperson's Council, which handles the day-to-day affairs of the Standing Committee.^[2] The chairman is assisted in their work by vice chairpersons and the secretary-general of the National Committee.^[2] The chairman is usually the leader of the united front system of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), being the head of the principal forum for united front work.^[3]

Since its establishment, all CPPCC chairpersons have been a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP except during transition periods, being at least its 4th-ranking member.^[4] The incumbent chairman is Wang Huning, who is the 4th-ranking member of the PSC.

Roles

The chairman is central to the united front system of the CCP. According to Sinologist Peter Mattis, the role "largely consists of public appearances, speaking engagements, and pressing the flesh to ensure the party’s ideas remain paramount".^[5] The chairman speaks at the department directors’ meeting (全国统战部长会议) of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) held around every December or January, with the Chinese state media emphasizing the role of the chairman and their speeches over the UFWD director, who nominally presides over the meeting.^[6]

The chairman usually leads the Central Coordination Group for Xinjiang Work and the Central Coordination Group for Tibet Work, the top CCP decision-making bodies on Xinjiang and Tibet.^[7] Additionally, though not required by law, the chairman also generally serves as the leader of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (CCPPNR), a united front organization.^[8]

List of officeholders

Multiple terms in office, consecutive or otherwise, are listed and counted in the first column counts individuals and the second column (term number).

Generations of leadership

•   Mao Zedong Administration
•   Deng-Chen Administration
•   Jiang Zemin Administration
•   Hu–Wen Administration
•   Xi Jinping Administration

№	Chairperson		Term	Took office	Left office
1		Mao Zedong 毛泽东	1st	9 October 1949	25 December 1954
2		Zhou Enlai 周恩来	2nd	25 December 1954	29 April 1959
			3rd	29 April 1959	5 January 1965
			4th	5 January 1965	8 January 1976
During this interval, the office was vacant. (January 1976–March 1978)
3		Deng Xiaoping 邓小平	5th	8 March 1978	17 June 1983
4		Deng Yingchao 邓颖超	6th	17 June 1983	10 April 1988
5		Li Xiannian 李先念	7th	10 April 1988	21 June 1992
During this interval, the office was vacant. (June 1992–March 1993)
6		Li Ruihuan 李瑞环	8th	27 March 1993	13 March 1998
			9th	13 March 1998	13 March 2003
7		Jia Qinglin 贾庆林	10th	13 March 2003	13 March 2008
			11th	13 March 2008	11 March 2013
8		Yu Zhengsheng 俞正声	12th	11 March 2013	14 March 2018
9		Wang Yang 汪洋	13th	14 March 2018	10 March 2023
10		Wang Huning 王沪宁	14th	10 March 2023	Incumbent

Timeline

References

1. Luo, Wangshu (2015-01-20). "Public Employees Get Salary Increase". China Daily. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
2. "Charter of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Chapter IV: National Committee". Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. 27 December 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
3. Joske, Alex (June 9, 2020). "The party speaks for you: Foreign interference and the Chinese Communist Party's united front system". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. JSTOR resrep25132. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
4. Cole & Hsu 2020, p. 4.
5. Cole & Hsu 2020, p. 7.
6. Cole & Hsu 2020, p. 11-12.
7. "Decoding Chinese Politics". Asia Society. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
8. Cole & Hsu 2020, p. 44.

Further reading

• Cole, J. Michael; Hsu, Szu-chien (2020). Insidious Power: How China Undermines Global Democracy. Eastbridge Books. ISBN 9781788692137.