The Structure and Process of Foreign Policy-Making

Abstract

The Chinese government has two parallel governmental structures: one set of organs and institutions run by the Chinese Communist Party, and the other run by the state. Following the Soviet model, the top party organizations are the Politburo (Political Bureau) Standing Committee, and below it are the Politburo itself and the Central Committee. The most powerful state organizations are the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the State Council. The NPC is China’s highest legislative body, equivalent to the British Parliament or US Congress, while the State Council is chief executive body. Like the Party’s Central Committee, the State Council, which oversees the various government ministries, is too large to be an effective decision-making body; its leadership is therefore distilled in a smaller State Council cabinet, headed by the Premier of the PRC.