Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Simplified Chinese 中国人民政治协商会议
Traditional Chinese 中國人民政治協商會議
Short form
Simplified Chinese 人民政协
Traditional Chinese 人民政協
Literal meaning People's Political Consultation
Shortest form
Simplified Chinese 政协
Traditional Chinese 政協
Literal meaning Political Consultation

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC;  Listen), also known as the People's PCC (人民政协) or just the PCC (政协), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China. The organisation consists of delegates from a range of political parties and organisations, as well as independent members. The proportion of representation of the various parties is determined by established convention, negotiated between the parties.

In practice, the largest and dominant party in the Conference is the Communist Party of China which has about one third of the seats. Other members are drawn from the United Front parties allied with the CPC, and from independent members who are not members of any party. The Conference is intended to appear to be more representative and be composed of a broader range of people than is typical of government office in the People's Republic of China.

The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (Chinese: 中国人民政治协商会议全国委员会; pinyin: Zhōngguó Rénmín Zhèngzhì Xiéshāng Huìyì Quanguo Weiyuanhui, shortened Chinese: 全国政协; pinyin: Quánguó Zhèngxié; literally: "National PCC") typically holds a yearly meeting at the same time as plenary sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC). Both CPPCC National Committee and NPC plenary sessions are often called the "National Lianghui" (The National Two Meetings), making important national level political decisions. The 2014 session of the CPPCC is scheduled to open on March 3, 2014, in conjunction with the annual session of China's National People's Congress (NPC).[1]

A less common translation is "the National Congress". This translation is discouraged, as it causes confusion with the National People's Congress as well as with the National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

The organisational hierarchy of the CPPCC includes the National Committee and regional committees. Regional committees of the CPPCC include the provincial, prefecture, and county level. According to Article 19, Section 2 of the Charter of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the relationship between the National Committee and the regional committees is a relationship of guidance (no direct leadership). So are the relationships between upper-level regional committees and lower-level committees. Operating budgets on each level are independently administered by the financial administrations for the region, making the National committee and all regional committees separate individual entities. An indirect leadership, however, exists via the United Front Departments on each level.

History

The first conference of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1949

The Conference dated prior to the existence of People's Republic of China. During negotiations between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang in 1945, the two parties agreed to open multiparty talks on post-World War II political reforms via a Political Consultative Conference. This was included in the Double Tenth Agreement. This agreement was implemented by the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China, who organised the first Political Consultative Assembly from January 10–31, 1946. Representatives of the Kuomintang, Communist Party of China, Chinese Youth Party, and China Democratic League, as well as independent delegates, attended the conference in Chongqing.

In 1949, with the Communist Party having gained control of most of mainland China, they organised a "new" Political Consultative Conference in September, inviting delegates from various friendly parties to attend and discuss the establishment of a new state. This conference was then renamed the People's Political Consultative Conference. The first conference approved the Common Program, which served as the de facto Constitution for the next five years. The conference approved the new national anthem, flag, capital city, and state name, and elected the first government of the People's Republic of China. In effect, the first People's Political Consultative Conference served as a constitutional convention.

From 1949 to 1954, the conference became the de facto legislature of the PRC. In 1954, the Constitution transferred this function to the National People's Congress.

Present role

The role that CPPCC plays in the Chinese government is stated in the preamble of the PRC Constitution. In practice, its role and powers are somewhat analogous to an advisory legislative upper house and there have been occasional proposals to formalise this role in the PRC Constitution.

The Communist Party of China and the aligned "democratic parties" participate in the CPPCC. Besides political parties, CPPCC also invites of representatives from various sectors of society. The parties and groups which are represented in the CPPCC are:

  1. Communist Party of China
  2. Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang
  3. China Democratic League
  4. China Democratic National Construction Association
  5. China Association for Promoting Democracy
  6. Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party
  7. China Party for Public Interest
  8. September 3 Society
  9. Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League
  10. All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce
  11. All-China Youth Federation
  12. All-China Women's Federation

National Committee

Standing Committee

Chairmen

Past Chairmen of the Committee and the current Chairman:

  1. Mao Zedong
  2. Zhou Enlai
  3. Deng Xiaoping
  4. Deng Yingchao
  5. Li Xiannian
  6. Li Ruihuan
  7. Jia Qinglin
  8. Yu Zhengsheng (since March 2013)
Current Vice Chairpersons
  1. Du Qinglin
  2. Ling Jihua (removed from office in 2015)
  3. Han Qide
  4. Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai
  5. Dong Jianhua
  6. Wan Gang
  7. Lin Wenyi
  8. Luo Fuhe
  9. He Houhua
  10. Zhang Qingli
  11. Li Haifeng
  12. Su Rong (removed from office in 2014)
  13. Chen Yuan
  14. Lu Zhangong
  15. Zhou Xiaochuan
  16. Wang Jiarui
  17. Wang Zhengwei
  18. Ma Biao
  19. Qi Xuchun
  20. Chen Xiaoguang
  21. Ma Peihua
  22. Liu Xiaofeng
  23. Wang Qinmin
Current Secretary-General

Special Committees

The CPPCC National Committee has 9 Special Committees:

  1. Committee for Handling Proposals (提案委员会)
  2. Committee for Economic Affairs (经济委员会)
  3. Committee of Population, Resources and Environment (人口资源环境委员会)
  4. Committee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports (教科文卫体委员会)
  5. Committee for Social and Legal Affairs (社会和法制委员会)
  6. Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs (民族和宗教委员会)
  7. Committee of Cultural and Historical Data (文史资料委员会)
  8. Committee for Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese (港澳台侨委员会)
  9. Committee of Foreign Affairs (外事委员会)

Annual sessions

The People’s Political Consultative Daily

The People’s Political Consultative Daily (《人民政协报》) is the press window of information on direct policies and viewpoints of the CPPCC. Like most of the Chinese political organs, the newspaper serves as the mouthpiece and press for the conference. Compared with other governmental newspapers, such as The People's Daily or The PLA Daily, The People’s Political Consultative Daily is not as hard line, but rather smooth in terms of wording. This is geared towards the nature of the organisation which many non-party members also participate in the conference.

Regional committees

See also

References

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