Powers
The position holds reserve constitutional powers under the 1978 revision of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. As stipulated in Article 84 of the Constitution, should both the President and Vice-President become incapacitated, and the National People's Congress is unable to elect a timely replacement, the Chairman of the NPC will act as President.
Theoretically, during the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989, the NPC Chair at the time, Wan Li, had the power to call an emergency session of the NPC to resolve the issue constitutionally. However, Wan's freedom of movement was restricted, and ultimately was powerless in the situation.
Read more about this topic: Chairman Of The Standing Committee Of The National People's Congress
Famous quotes containing the word powers:
“If powers divine
Behold our human actions—as they do—
I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“He who is conversant with the supernal powers will not worship these inferior deities of the wind, waves, tide, and sunshine. But we would not disparage the importance of such calculations as we have described. They are truths in physics because they are true in ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Anti-Nebraska, Know-Nothings, and general disgust with the powers that be, have carried this county [Hamilton County, Ohio] by between seven and eight thousand majority! How people do hate Catholics, and what a happiness it was to show it in what seemed a lawful and patriotic manner.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)