China is a single-party state, dominated by the Communist Party (CCP), the world's largest political party. The National People's Congress, indirectly elected every five years, is theoretically the supreme organ of state power. It appoints the president and executive State Council, headed by the prime minister. The real focus of power, however, is the 22-member Politburo of the CCP and, in particular, its Standing Committee of six.
Main Political Issues
Reform and the authority of the CCP
Since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, China has embarked on a process of economic reform that has led to divisions between reformers and conservatives within the CCP. Both sides want to secure the dominance of the party and avoid political reform. The reformers, headed by Deng Xiaoping, China's paramount leader, believe only a fast-track move to a "socialist market economy" will save the CCP. They look to South Korea and Taiwan as countries which have achieved high growth without political reform. The conservatives recognize the need for economic change, but want it to be slow and controlled by the center.
The pro-democracy protests of 1989, culminating in the Tiananmen Square massacre, enabled the conservatives under premier Li Peng to gain the upper hand for a while. Several leading reformers were demoted. Deng moved to restore the balance between the two groups. The growing unpopularity of Li Peng and the rise of reformers such as Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji suggest the reformers are again dominant.
Economic reform does, however, pose a real threat to the CCP's authority. The 22 provinces, particularly those in the southeast, are acting increasingly independently of Beijing. At a popular level, party authority is being challenged by growing rural discontent over widening wealth differentials.
The succession
China's leaders are predominantly in their late 80s, so their succession is an immediate issue. Deng has tried to strengthen the hand of the reformers, overseeing the election of younger reform-oriented members to the Politburo at the CCP's 14th National Congress in 1992. China's new leaders will come from here. But, as there is no formal structure for the transfer of power, who eventually comes to the fore will depend on which of the gerontocracy dies first and on the outcome of complex power brokering.
Profile
Politics are dominated by the last of the "Immortals" who took part with Mao Zedong in the 1934û1935 Long March. Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's economic reforms and its paramount leader, has no official post. He is the most prominent of the Immortals, but has to work hard behind the scenes forming alliances to promote his ideas and followers. The succession and the effects of economic change are a challenge to the 52-million-strong CCP, but it faces
