Premier of the People's Republic of China

Premier of the
State Council of the
People's Republic of China

Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent
Wen Jiabao

since 16 March 2003
Residence Zhongnanhai
Nominator the President of the People's Republic of China
Appointer the National People's Congress
Term length five years, renewable
once consecutively
Inaugural holder Zhou Enlai
Formation 27 September 1954
(&1000000000000005700000057 years, &10000000000000143000000143 days)
Website State Council
People's Republic of China

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
the People's Republic of China



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The Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国国务院总理; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國國務院總理; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Guówùyuàn Zŏnglĭ), sometimes also referred to as the "Prime Minister" informally, is the Leader of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (the "Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China" after 1954), who is the head of government and holds the highest-ranking (Level 1) of the Civil service of the People's Republic of China. This position was originally known as Premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government (Chinese: 中央人民政府政务院总理) and changed to its current name in 1954. The Premier is formally approved by the National People's Congress upon the apparent nomination of the President. In practice, the candidate is recommended by the Politburo of the Communist Party of China. Both the President and the Premier are selected once every five years. The Premier has always been a member of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China.

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Powers and duties

The Premier is the highest administrative position in the Government of the People's Republic of China. The Premier is responsible for organizing and administering the Chinese civil bureaucracy. This includes overseeing the various ministries, departments, commissions and statutory agencies and announcing their candidacies to the National People's Congress for Vice-Premiers, State Councillors and ministry offices. Apparently, the Premier does not have authority over the People's Liberation Army, but the Premier is the Head of the National Defence Mobilization Committee of China which is a department of armed forces redeployment. In recent years, there has been a division of responsibilities between the Premier and the General Secretary of CPC wherein the Premier is responsible for the technical details of implementing government policy while the General Secretary gathers the political support necessary for government policy.

In 1989, then Premier Li Peng, in cooperation with the then Chairman of the Central Military Commission Deng Xiaoping, was able to use the office of the Premier to declare martial law in Beijing and order the military crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

The Premier has been supported by four Vice-Premiers since Deng Xiaoping's reform in 1983.

List of premiers


Living former premiers

See also

External links