Paramount leader
Informal term for the top leader in China / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Paramount leader of China?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Paramount leader (Chinese: 最高领导人; pinyin: Zuìgāo Lǐngdǎorén; lit. 'highest leader') is an informal term for the most important political figure in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), often holding the titles of CCP General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).[1][2][3] The state representative, head of state (president) or head of government (premier) are not necessarily paramount leader—under China's party-state system, CCP roles are politically more important than state titles.[4]
Supreme leader | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simplified Chinese | 最高领导人 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 最高領導人 | ||||||
| |||||||
The paramount leader is not a formal position nor an office unto itself. The term gained prominence during the era of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989), when he was able to wield political power without holding any official or formally significant party or government positions at any given time (state representative, head of government or CCP General Secretary).[5] As the leader of the world's largest economy by GDP purchasing power parity (PPP), the second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and a potential superpower, the paramount leader is considered to be one of the world's most powerful political figures.[6][7][8]
There has been significant overlap between paramount leader status and leadership core status, with a majority but not all of paramount leaders being also leadership cores, though they are separate concepts. The term has been used less frequently to describe Deng's successors, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, who have all formally held the offices of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (party leader), President of the People's Republic of China (state representative) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (commander-in-chief). Jiang, Hu and Xi are therefore usually referred to as president in the international scene, the title used by most other republican heads of state.[4] However, Deng's successors derive their real power from the post of general secretary, which is the primary position in the Chinese power structure[9] and generally regarded by scholars as the post whose holder can be considered paramount leader.[10] The presidency is a largely ceremonial office according to the Constitution,[note 1] and the most powerful position in the Chinese political system is the CCP general secretary.[12]
Xi Jinping is the current paramount leader.[13] He is considered to have taken on the role in November 2012, when he became CCP general secretary, rather than in March 2013 when he succeeded Hu Jintao as president.[14]