Chinese President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission Xi Jinping visits the troops in Fujian province, on 30 July 2014. The visit came just days before Army Day, which falls on 1 August and marks the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
Photo: Li Gang/Xinhua
Xi Jinping was appointed General Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee in November 2012. He assumed top state leadership roles, as President of the People’s Republic and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the following March.
He currently heads a number of smaller decision-making bodies within the Central Committee. The Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs has traditionally been led by the General Secretary since Zhao Ziyang 赵紫阳 took office, but Xi’s leadership was only publicly revealed on 13 June 2014, when the Xinhua News Agency 新华通讯社, which had already broken with tradition by publishing multiple reports on the group’s traditionally closed-door meetings that year, printed an article that provided titles for Xi and Deputy-Director Li Keqiang 李克强.
As General Secretary, Xi also assumed leadership of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, as well as the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs and its congruent sister organisation, the Central Leading Group on National Security.
In November 2013, the Third Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee established the Central National Security Commission (CNSC) to consolidate decision-making on national security issues, a decision that Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang 秦刚 said ‘should make terrorists, extremists, and separatists nervous.’ The Politburo appointed Xi Jinping to head up the CNSC on 24 January 2014.
Three additional leading groups were formed in the wake of the Third Plenum and its emphasis on deepening reform. The Central Leading Group for All-Around Deepening Reform, established in December 2013, the Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization, established in February 2014, and the Central Leading Group for Deepening Reform on National Defense, established in March 2014, are all led by Xi.
- General Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee 中共中央总书记
- President of China 国家主席
- Chairman of the Party’s Central Military Commission（党、国）中央军委主席
- Head of Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs 中央财经领导小组
- Head of Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs 中央对台工作领导小组
- Head of Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs (head of sister organisation, the Central Leading Group on National Security) 中央外事工作领导小组（中央国家安全工作领导小组）
- Chairman of Central National Security Commission 中央国家安全委员会
- Head of Central Leading Group for All-Around Deepening Reform 中央全面深化改革领导小组
