Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference


The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also known as the People's PCC or simply the PCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China. The organisation consists of delegates from eight legally-permitted political parties and other organisations, as well as independent members. The proportion of representation of the various parties is determined by established convention, negotiated between the parties. The CPPCC is indirectly controlled by the United Front Work Department.
In practice, the role of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is close to an advisory upper house. The largest and dominant party in the Conference is the Chinese Communist Party which has about two thirds of the seats. Other members are drawn from the United Front parties allied with the CCP, and from independent members who are not members of any party. The Conference is intended to be more representative and be composed of a broader range of people than is typical of government office in the People's Republic of China.
The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference typically holds a yearly meeting at the same time as plenary sessions of the National People's Congress. Both CPPCC National Committee and NPC plenary sessions are often called the "National Lianghui", making important national level political decisions.
A less common translation is "the National Congress". This translation is discouraged, as it causes confusion with the National People's Congress as well as with the National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
The organisational hierarchy of the CPPCC includes the National Committee and regional committees. Regional committees of the CPPCC include the provincial, prefecture, and county level. According to Article 19, Section 2 of the Charter of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the relationship between the National Committee and the regional committees is a relationship of guidance. So are the relationships between upper-level regional committees and lower-level committees. Operating budgets on each level are independently administered by the financial administrations for the region, making the National committee and all regional committees separate individual entities. An indirect leadership, however, exists via the United Front Work Department on each level.
The composition of the political advisors in the PCC, consisting of 2158 members, changes according to national objectives and priorities. Previously dominated by senior figures in real-estate, state-owned companies and "princelings", the PCC of 2018 is primarily composed of individuals from China's burgeoning technology sector.

History

The Conference dated prior to the existence of the People's Republic of China. During negotiations between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang in 1945, the two parties agreed to open multiparty talks on post-World War II political reforms via a Political Consultative Conference. This was included in the Double Tenth Agreement. This agreement was implemented by the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China, who organised the first Political Consultative Assembly from January 10–31, 1946. Representatives of the Kuomintang, Communist Party of China, Chinese Youth Party, and China Democratic League, as well as independent delegates, attended the conference in Chongqing.
In 1949, with the Communist Party having gained control of most of mainland China, they organised a "new" Political Consultative Conference in September, inviting delegates from various friendly parties to attend and discuss the establishment of a new state. This conference was then renamed the People's Political Consultative Conference. The first conference approved the Common Program, which served as the de facto constitution for the next five years. The conference approved the new national anthem, flag, capital city, and state name, and elected the first government of the People's Republic of China. In effect, the first People's Political Consultative Conference served as a constitutional convention.
From 1949 to 1954, the conference became the de facto legislature of the PRC. In 1954, the Constitution transferred this function to the National People's Congress.

Present role

The role that CPPCC plays in the Chinese government is stated in the preamble of the PRC Constitution. In practice, its role and powers are somewhat analogous to an advisory legislative upper house and there have been proposals to formalise this role in the PRC Constitution, making it a de facto national senate.
But according to China's official Xinhua News Agency, It is neither a body of state power nor a policymaking organ, but an important platform for democratically participating in state affairs. In practice, CPPCC members serve as advisors for the government and legislative and judicial organs.
The Communist Party of China and the aligned "democratic parties" participate in the CPPCC. Besides political parties, CPPCC has also representatives from various sectors of society in its ranks. The parties and groups with representatives to the CPPCC are as follows:
  1. Communist Party of China
  2. Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang
  3. China Democratic League
  4. China Democratic National Construction Association
  5. China Association for Promoting Democracy
  6. Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party
  7. China Party for Public Interest
  8. September 3 Society
  9. Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League
  10. Communist Youth League of China
  11. All-China Federation of Trade Unions
  12. All-China Women's Federation
  13. All-China Youth Federation
  14. All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce
  15. China Association for Science and Technology
  16. All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots
  17. All-China Federation of Returned Overseas
  18. Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
  19. Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong
  20. Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
  21. Liberal Party
  22. New Century Forum
  23. New Territories Association of Societies
  24. Macau United Citizens Association
  25. Macau Business Interest Union
  26. Macau Union of Professional Interests
  27. Progress Promotion Union/General Union of the Macao Residents' Associations
  28. Union for Development/The Women's General Association of Macau

    National Committee

Standing Committee

; Chairmen
Past Chairmen of the committee and the current Chairman:
  1. Mao Zedong
  2. Zhou Enlai
  3. Deng Xiaoping
  4. Deng Yingchao
  5. Li Xiannian
  6. Li Ruihuan
  7. Jia Qinglin
  8. Yu Zhengsheng
  9. Wang Yang
; Current Vice Chairpersons
; Current Secretary-General
The CPPCC National Committee has 10 Special Committees:
  1. Committee for Handling Proposals
  2. Committee for Economic Affairs
  3. Committee for Agriculture and Rural Affairs
  4. Committee of Population, Resources and Environment
  5. Committee of Education, Science, Health and Sports
  6. Committee for Social and Legal Affairs
  7. Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs
  8. Committee of Culture, History and Study
  9. Committee for Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese
  10. Committee of Foreign Affairs

    Annual sessions

There have been 2200 members in the 12th National Committee of CPPCC since June 2017:
; Seats for Political Parties
; Seats for People's organizations
; Seats for Sectoral representatives
The People’s Political Consultative Daily is the press window of information on direct policies and viewpoints of the CPPCC. Like most of the Chinese political organs, the newspaper serves as the mouthpiece and press for the conference. Compared with other governmental newspapers, such as The People's Daily or The PLA Daily, The People’s Political Consultative Daily is not as hardline, but rather smooth in terms of wording. This is geared towards the nature of the organisation which many non-party members also participate in the conference.

Regional committees