Paramount Leader - History

History

The term was commonly applied to Mao Zedong, who at times ruled with practically absolute power, and Deng Xiaoping, who was the most influential person in the PRC despite not holding the hierarchically most powerful official positions. Following the death of Deng, the term has seldom been used since power is held more or less collectively by the members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China with the General Secretary acting as a first among equals figure, and different factions jockeying for influence. Policy decisions are thought to be made via majority vote of Standing Committee members following internal discussions. For example, though Jiang Zemin left the Standing Committee in 2002 and resigned all his posts in 2004, members of the Shanghai clique (of which Jiang is a member) retained a majority in the Standing Committee.

Leadership transition takes several months. For instance, in the case of Hu Jintao:

• General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (November 2002)
• President of the People's Republic of China (March 2003)
• Chairman of the Central Military Commission (September 2004)

In the case of the transition to both Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission was the last office handed over by the previous paramount leader, in order to secure political influence and ensure political continuity. In the case of the Hu to Xi transition, Hu resigned the Party CMC immediately leading to the belief that he will resign the State CMC in March 2013, when his term as President ends.