Explainer | Party-state relations under China’s Communist Party: separation of powers, control over government and reforms
- Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Communist Party has closely overseen every aspect of life in the country
- There were signs of change in the 1980s when Deng Xiaoping started rebuilding after the Cultural Revolution but liberal moves have since been reversed
This is the fourth in the South China Morning Post’s series of explainers about China’s Communist Party, in the lead-up to the party’s 100th anniversary in July. In this piece, Josephine Ma explains how China’s Communist Party is deeply entwined with all aspects of the government.
“Government, the military, society and schools, north, south, east and west – the party leads them all.”
This was a line written into the Communist Party of China’s charter in 2017, reflecting President Xi Jinping’s philosophy that the party should lead in all spheres: not just in politics, but also in the economy and social life.
The concept sits in stark contrast to the US Constitution and that of many other countries where the separation of powers is a fundamental principle.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the party has closely overseen every aspect of life in the country. In the 1980s, then-paramount leader Deng Xiaoping led institutional reforms for “the separation of the party and the state”, but in more recent years Xi has instead pushed for the opposite, “integration of the party and the state”.
How is the party entrenched in the government?
The party’s control over the government has broadly taken three forms:
- Personnel selection – all senior government officials and the leaders of state enterprises, schools, hospitals and social groups, such as the worker unions, are appointed by the party and senior positions have to be held by party members.
- Party committees – committees elected by the party oversee all government departments, state enterprises and public institutes. The committees exist on all levels, including at the grass-roots level such as in rural villages. For example, mayors report to the secretary general of the city’s party committee.
- Ideology – the party puts great emphasis on promoting and controlling ideology. This is done through media, education, “self-reflection” sessions in government units, and requiring all officials to adhere to the party’s decisions.
Although the NPC is the highest political body according to the constitution and has to endorse key appointments to the government as well as the government budget, it reports to the party.
Were there ever efforts to separate the party and state?
In Mao Zedong’s time, the party was in charge of all functions of the government and dictated every aspect of political, economic and social life.
There were signs of change in the 1980s, when Deng became China’s paramount leader and initiated reforms to rebuild the nation after the Cultural Revolution.
How is China’s Communist Party structured?
Deng mentioned “the separation of the party and the state” numerous times during his meetings with party cadres and foreign VIPs in 1986, although these mainly referred to administrative reforms to make governance more efficient and Deng warned against Western notions of the separation of powers. The purpose of such reforms was to “strengthen the leadership of the party”, not to weaken it, according to Deng.
The concept of the separation of party and state, later written into the top-level political report at the party’s national congress in 1987, urged the party to only take part in major decisions and retreat from daily government operations.
With Deng’s endorsement, liberals in the party such as premier Zhao Ziyang pushed for political reforms to mark a clearer boundary of responsibilities between the party and the government, including removing party committees from some government departments.
During Mao’s era, several leading groups had been set up in the party to oversee key areas such as diplomacy, science and education. Liberals like Zhao proposed reducing their power so they could only give broad recommendations and leave the actual policymaking to the State Council, China’s cabinet.
A think tank led by Zhao also proposed having professional managers lead state-owned factories instead of party committees.
When Jiang Zemin replaced Zhao as general secretary following the crackdown, party committees were restored in all government departments, state enterprises and public institutes.
Today, party committees continue to supervise and make decisions across government units, while the State Council’s role is largely limited to economic policies.
How has the party-state relationship changed under Xi?
Xi chairs eight party commissions that outrank other party apparatus and government departments. They cover key areas: state security, internet security, military-civilian technology transfer, diplomacy, finance and economy, military reform and national audit.
Xi also merged many government departments into the party apparatus, in a move that further blurred the line between the party and the state.
For example, the state office of public reform and the state bureau of public servants were absorbed by the party’s organisation department, which is in charge of human resource issues. The state administration overseeing religious affairs and ethnic minorities were absorbed by the party’s united front department. And the Ministry of Supervision and the Bureau of Corruption Prevention under the state council were absorbed by the National Supervision Commission.
While Deng pushed for the party to withdraw from non-strategic areas and focus on the country’s general direction and ideology, Xi appears to have taken the opposite direction.
But Xi argued in a speech to the party’s Central Committee in 2018 that he did not depart from Deng’s principle that the party should be strong in leadership. He added that it was meaningless to distinguish “separation of the party and the state” from “integration of the party and the state” as the most important thing was for the party to streamline bureaucracy and govern effectively.
