The 'Politburo of the Communist Party of China' (
Chinese: 中国共产党中央政治局 pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Zhèngzhìjú) (also "Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee") is a group of 19 to 25 people who oversee the
Communist Party of China. Unlike
politburos (political bureaus) of other
Communist parties, power within the politburo is centralized in the
Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China. The Politburo is nominally appointed by the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China but the practice since the 1980s has been that the Politburo is self-perpetuating.
The power of the Politburo resides largely in the fact that its members generally simultaneously hold positions within the
People's Republic of China state positions and with the control over personnel appointments that the Politburo and Secretariat have. How the Politburo works internally is murky, but it appears that the full Politburo meets once a month and the standing committee meets weekly. This is believed to be much more infrequent than the former
Politburo of the CPSU had been. The agenda for the meetings appears to be controlled by the
General Secretary and decisions are made by consensus rather than by majority vote.
The Politburo was eclipsed by the
Secretariat of the Communist Party of China in the early 1980s under
Hu Yaobang, but was re-emerged as a dominant force after Hu's ousting in 1987.
Current Members
''In
stroke order of surnames''
★
Wang Lequan (CPC
Xinjiang Committee Secretary)
★
Wang Zhaoguo (Vice-Chairman of the
National People's Congress Standing Committee; Chair,
All-China Federation of Trade Unions)
★
Hui Liangyu (Vice-Premier)
★
Liu Qi (CPC
Beijing Committee Secretary)
★
Liu Yunshan (CPC Propaganda Head)
★
Li Changchun
★
Wu Yi (Vice-Premier)
★
Wu Bangguo (Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee)
★
Wu Guanzheng (Head of
Central Discipline Inspection Commission
★
Zhang Lichang
★
Zhang Dejiang (CPC
Guangdong Committee Secretary)
★ ''
Chen Liangyu'' (suspended 2006)
★
Luo Gan (Chair, Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee)
★
Zhou Yongkang (Head of
Ministry of Public Security)
★
Hu Jintao (President, General Secretary)
★
Yu Zhengsheng (CPC
Hubei Committee Secretary)
★
He Guoqiang (Head of CPC Organization Department)
★
Jia Qinglin (Chairman of the
Political Consultative Conference)
★
Guo Boxiong (Vice-Chairman,
Central Military Commission)
★ ''
Huang Ju'' (deceased 2007)
★
Cao Gangchuan (Minister of Defence)
★
Zeng Qinghong (Vice-President, Principal of
Central Party School)
★
Zeng Peiyan (Vice-Premier)
★
Wen Jiabao (Premier)
★
Wang Gang (Alternate Member)
External links
★ http://www.chinaleadershipmonitor.org/20041/lm.html