General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

General Secretary of the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
中国共产党中央委员会总书记
Incumbent
Xi Jinping
since 15 November 2012
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party
Style
TypeParty leader, paramount leader
Member ofPolitburo Standing Committee
Reports toCentral Committee
ResidenceQinzheng Hall, Zhongnanhai[1]
SeatBeijing
NominatorCentral Committee
AppointerCentral Committee
Term lengthFive years, renewable
Constituting instrumentParty Constitution
PrecursorChairman (1943–1976)
Inaugural holderChen Duxiu
Formation23 July 1921 (1921-07-23)
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Simplified Chinese中国共产党中央委员会总书记
Traditional Chinese中國共產黨中央委員會總書記
Commonly abbreviated as
Simplified Chinese中共中央总书记
Traditional Chinese中共中央總書記

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader of the PRC.

According to the CCP constitution, the general secretary is elected during a plenary session of the Central Committee. The general secretary serves as an ex officio member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), China's de facto top decision-making body. The general secretary is also the head of the Secretariat, and sets the agenda of Central Committee, Politburo and PSC meetings. Since the 1990s, the holder of the post has been, except for transitional periods, the president of China, making the holder the head of state, and the chairman of the Central Military Commission, the supreme commander of the People's Liberation Army.[note 1]

As the top leader of the world's largest economy by GDP purchasing power parity (PPP), the second largest economy by GDP nominal, the largest military in the world by personnel, a recognized nuclear weapons state, U.N. Security Council permanent member, and a potential superpower, the general secretary is considered to be one of the world's most powerful political figures.[3]

The incumbent general secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012 and was re-elected twice on 25 October 2017 and 23 October 2022. The last person to rule the country for more than two terms was Mao Zedong, who served as Chairman of the CCP Central Committee from 1943 until his death in 1976.

  1. ^ "文革后的中南海:中央办事效率最高的时期". LYWZC.com. Comsenz Inc. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018..
  2. ^ "Who's Who in China's New Communist Party Leadership Lineup". Bloomberg News. 15 November 2012. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  3. ^ McGregor, Richard (21 August 2022). "Xi Jinping's Radical Secrecy". The Atlantic. Retrieved 12 September 2022.; Sheridan, Michael. "How Xi Jinping became the world's most powerful man". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 September 2022.; O'Connor, Tom (3 February 2022). "Xi and Putin, two of world's most powerful men, to meet in China, US absent". Newsweek. Retrieved 12 September 2022.


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