Chinese Democracy

It seems that every day, American news sources attempt to include an article on China, knowing that their audience will digest it with a sense of awe as they attempt to "understand" the "gathering threat" across the Pacific. But truly understanding China, let alone the Chinese, is a little bit like trying to understand America. It is a country of 1.4 billion people, with a land mass equivalent to that of the United States, so it becomes difficult to compress the entirety of Chinese culture into a single column.

Still the New York Times and its ilk forge ahead, and today the Times seems to have gotten it right with another great "China article" by Joe Kahn, who follows up his earlier piece on the upcoming National People's Congress. The National People's Congress (NPC) is in theory the key law-making body for China, consists of over 3,000 members that serve in a part-time capacity, and meets once a year. In practice, however, the NPC usually ratifies legislation proposed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the NPC Standing Committee. (NPCSC)

The NPCSC is more like a de facto parliament, consisting of 120 members working full time. Under the Chinese constitution, the NPC delegates the bulk of its law-making authority to the Standing Committee, so the NPCSC operates kind of like a hybrid administrator/legislator. So imagine if the U.S. Congress gave all of its power to agencies like DHS, DoD, and the Supreme Court, and then went home for 50 weeks out of the year.

Note that I said Supreme Court. Unlike most western jurisdictions, here in China the NPCSC is responsible for legislative interpretation, not the Supreme People's Court. So imagine again if the Senate Judiciary Committee got to weigh in every time a loophole appeared in a piece of legislation. As a result, things get a little interesting here in China when judges go beyond simply applying rules to interpreting them. Generally, judges get fired, because the Chinese government firmly believes that separation of powers is a very bad thing. So much for Chinese Democracy.

Ultimately, however, most of the power lies in the CPC, which meets before the annual National People's Congress to decide upon appointments. Kahn's article is notable because it shows how Jiang Zemin, once President of China but term-limited by its constitution, continues to influence the power structure in the PRC such that President Hu could only get one of his people a spot in the CPC's ruling Politburo Standing Committee. Indeed, the remainder of the Politburo Standing Committee (which is different from the National People's Congress Standing Committee) owes its power to Jiang Zemin, or to other political compromises.

What's most interesting about the Kahn article, however, is what it overlooks. Though Hu is President of the PRC, under the Chinese constitution the President is mostly a ceremonial position. Under the Chinese "trio model" of the executive, the President is mostly a symbolic role, the Premier of the State Council is administrative, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission is, well, military. At present, however, Hu serves as both the President and CMC Chairman, as well as in the top leadership post of the Communist Party of China. (CPC)

What is key to note, however, is that former President Jiang remained Chairman of the state Central Military Commission (CMC) until 2005, well past his term as President. As you might suspect, the CMC comprises the true power center of the PRC and the CPC, as evidenced by its role in "maintaining order" in 1989. Unlike the Presidency, the Chairmanship of the CMC is not term-limited, meaning that Zemin could have continued to influence policy in that role for years to come. Hu's take-over of the CMC, however, marked one of the few peaceful leadership transitions in China since 1949.

So even though Hu nominally holds all of the positions he needs to exercise full control over the PRC, he continues to rule by consensus. As such, the old-line Communists continue to exert control. It would seem then that they at least recognize the stability that democracy can evoke, at least within the upper echelons of the CPC. So it will be interesting to see what happens this week as the NPC gets under way.