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China The State Council
In 1987 the top executive apparatus of the government was the
State Council, the equivalent of the cabinet or council of
ministers in many other countries
(see
fig. 19). Although formally
responsible to the NPC and its Standing Committee in conducting a
wide range of government functions both at the national and at the
local levels, the State Council was responsive mainly to the CCP
Secretariat, under the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee.
This orientation was dictated by the fact that the senior members
of the State Council were concurrently influential party leaders--a
tie that has facilitated the party's centralized control over the
state apparatus. It also tended to obscure distinctions between the
party and the government, resulting in overcentralization of power
in the hands of a few, and arbitrary behavior by, key leaders. Both
excesses were condemned by reform leaders. Deng's intention was to
introduce some checks and balances into the party and government
sectors by clarifying their separate functions with administrative
codes and regulations and by developing a legal base from which to
enforce them.
The State Council met once a month and had a standing committee
meeting twice a week that included the premier, vice premiers, a
secretary, and state councillors. It was headed by the premier,
Zhao Ziyang, who was re-elected to a five-year term in 1983. The
membership of the State Council as of November 1986 included, in
addition to the premier, five vice premiers (versus thirteen in
1980), the secretary, and eleven state councillors. As the chief
administrative organ of government, its main functions were to
formulate administrative measures, issue decisions and orders, and
monitor their implementation; draft legislative bills for
submission to the NPC or its Standing Committee; and prepare the
economic plan and the state budget for deliberation and approval by
the NPC. The State Council was the functional center of state power
and clearinghouse for government initiatives at all levels. With
the government's emphasis on economic modernization, the State
Council clearly acquired additional importance and influence.
The State Council was supported by leading groups, which
resembled institutionalized task forces and dealt with problems in
the modernization program. For example, a leading group established
in September 1986 was directed to investigate and suggest ways to
eliminate the obstacles to foreign investment in China. In addition
to the leading groups were offices that dealt with matters of
ongoing concern. These included the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs
Office and the Special Economic Zones Office. In 1987 the State
Council structure also included thirty-two ministers in charge of
ministries, nine ministers in charge of commissions, twenty-nine
agencies for carrying out specialized functions, and eight major
banking institutions (see
table 3, Appendix B). (In 1980 there had
been thirty-eight ministers presiding over ministries and eleven
ministers in charge of commissions. The NPC Standing Committee
established the new Ministry of Supervision in December 1986.) In
a bureaucratic reorganization carried out mainly in 1982, thousands
of elderly officials had been retired and replaced by younger and
better educated officials. Reductions in leadership personnel in
the bodies under the State Council were accompanied by reductions
in the staff of these bodies from 49,000 to 32,000 members.
Data as of July 1987
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