• Forum
• SITREP

• Military

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space
• Public Eye

Further Reading

Senior Leadership

CMC Chair	President	Vice President	Premier
Mao Zedong	Mao Zedong 01 Oct 1949 27 Sep 1954	none	Zhou Enlai
	Mao Zedong 27 Sep 1954 27 Apr 1959	Zhu De
	Liu Shaoqi 27 Apr 1959 21 Dec 1964	Dong Biwu
	Liu Shaoqi 21 Dec 1964 31 Oct 1968
	Song Qingling 31 Oct 1968 24 Feb 1972	vacant
	Dong Biwu 24 Feb 1972 17 Jan 1975
	Post abolished 17 Jan 1975 05 Mar 1978	Post abolished	Hua Guofeng
Hua Guofeng	Post abolished 15 Mar 1978 16 May 1981	Post abolished
	Song Qingling 16 May 1981 28 May 1981	vacant	Zhao Ziyang
Deng Xiaoping	post abolished 28 May 1981 18 Jun 1983	post abolished
	Li Xiannian 18 Jun 1983 08 Apr 1988	Ulanhu 1988
	Yang Shangkun 08 Apr 1988 27 Mar 1993	Wang Zhen	Li Peng
Jiang Zemin		Rong Yiren 27 Mar 1993 15 Mar 1998
		Hu Jintao 15 Mar 1998 23 Mar 2003	Zhu Rongji
Hu Jintao		Zeng Qinghong 23 Mar 2003 15 Mar 2008	Wen Jiabao
		Xi Jinping 15 Mar 2008 Mar 2013
Xi Jinping		Mar 2013 Mar 2018	Li Keqiang
		Mar 2018 Mar 2023	..

China's parliament elected Li Keqiang premier on March 14, 2013 as the country's Communist Party neared the final stages of its once-a-decade transition of power. As expected, the National People's Congress on Friday nearly unanimously selected the English-speaking Mr. Li to replace Wen Jiabao. The 57-year-old will be in charge of running China's economy and day-to-day leadership of the government. The parliament, which reflexively endorses the decisions of the Communist Party, named Xi Jinping as president a day earlier, in a formality that completes his rise to China's top leadership position. Since attaining the top spots in the party at a congress in November 2012, the two men have vowed to revamp China's economy, reduce pollution and crack down on widespread corruption. They are expected to serve in their positions for the next 10 years.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) held its 18th National Congress on 08 November 2012. Two factions within the party - the Princeling Faction and the Youth League Faction - were locked in an intense power struggle. At the National People’s Congress plenary held in March 2008, Xi Jinping was elected Vice President of the government, and Li Keqiang was elected Vice Premier. The Princeling Faction - children of senior party leaders, currently has the upper hand. Their representative, Xi Jinping, took over the duties of General Secretary of the CPC from Hu Jintao. Li Keqiang, the representative of the Youth League Faction, took over from Wen Jiabao as the Premier of the State Council.

The loose coalition of the “Princeling Party” and the “Shanghai Clique,” draws its strength primarily from the children of revolutionary-era senior CCP officials, and from officials with experience in China’s coastal provinces. It is based in a patronage network extending from former CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin. The second group, the “China Communist Youth League Faction,” or “Tuanpai,” is found among supporters of CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao. Many of these officials have direct experience working in the CCP’s nationwide youth organization. They also tend to share experience working in China’s poorer, inland provinces, as well as experience in “Party Affairs” work.

In August 2012 some of China’s top leaders met at a resort near Beijing, reportedly to finalize their selections for the next generation of national leaders to take power. The decisions made at the secretive talks in Beidaihe were not expected to become public until the Communist Party's 18th National Congress convened in November. Beidaihe was a regular meeting place for senior party officials until Hu Jintao came to power in 2002. This was the first such meeting since then.

After the 17th Party Congress in 2007, an age limit was formally announced to the public for the first time, with state media praising "the rigorous rule of ‘the retirement of members of the Politburo Standing Committee at the age of 68’" Due to recently established Party precedents on age, at the 18th Party Congress all Members of the current Politburo Standing Committee except for Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang will be forced to retire. However, the retirees may still maintain significant influence behind the scenes as Party Elders. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao will retire, and Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who are already members of the Standing Committee, are expected to replace them. Party leaders may discuss reducing the size of the Standing Committee from nine members to seven, in an effort to consolidate power.

With the power transition now underway in China, some analysts see signs of nationalistic tendencies. And that, they say, could lead to a greater willingness to use force. Another possibility is Beijing’s hardline policies might be due to the power shift. From this perspective, Once Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, and others have secured their position in 2013-2014, they could focus on domestic issues and assume a less hardline position.

Xi also succeeded Hu as chairman of the party's military commission. Before the Congress one question was whether Hu would keep the CMC job for two more years as his predecessor Jiang Zemin did. The position of supreme commander of China's huge military is considered essential for any CPC leader who wants to control the country. This is evident by the fact that Deng Xiaoping was the de-facto leader of China from 1981 to 1989 while serving as chief of the CPC Military Commission, although he was neither the party’s general secretary nor president of the country at the time. China's former President Jiang Zemin followed that precedent, keeping that job for two years and acting as a gray eminence after handing over the party’s general secretary position to Hu Jintao in 2002.

The Times of London and some other influential western media enterprises reported that Hu was sure to follow suit by retaining the job for two more years to ensure that he maintains his following and his influence after he steps down as party chief. However, two international news agencies, Reuters and AFP, said Hu was planning to give up all his posts in the party and government in early 2013, when Xi will succeed him as president of the country as long as Hu’s confidant Li Keqiang, who has been billed as the next premier, is named as vice chairman of the military commission, the news wires said. But there are also reports that Hu, who is seen as not leaving much of a legacy, will be forced to give up all of his posts so that his successor can have a free hand to deal with the country's problems.

It is suggested that as long as the US keeps up its attempts to resume its dominance in Asia, Hu will have to leave his successor full power to handle crises such as China's sizzling territorial disputes with neighboring states in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. By not hanging on his job as chief of military commission, Hu may also show that he is different from Jiang, who continued to chair the military commission two years after he relinquished the presidency, much to Hu's displeasure. If Hu does not hang on, it will set a healthy example for power transfer in China and Hu will earn a reputation as a leader who held the country's interests above his own.

Some sources speculate that Xi, who holds Hu in high regard, had heeded the advice of the CPC Party School and asked Hu to remain as the country's supreme military commander. By this line of reasoning, Xi needed Hu to remain as chief of the military commission to deal with the current crises facing the country. The power struggle between the leftists and the rightists within the party has intensified since the downfall of former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai.