The remaining seats are held by nominally independent delegates and eight minor political parties, which are non-oppositional and support the CCP.

The State Council presents most initiatives to the NPCSC for consideration after previous endorsement by the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) is responsible for prosecutions and supervises procuracies at the provincial, prefecture, and county levels.

At the same administrative ranking as the SPC and SPP, the National Supervisory Commission (NSC) was established in 2018 to investigate corruption within the CCP and state organs.

All courts and their personnel are subject to the effective control of the CCP's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

[7][8] As outlined by the CCP constitution: "Government, the military, society and schools, north, south, east and west – the party leads them all.

"[6] Under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, there were proposals to increase the separation of the state and the party, especially advocated by more liberal officials such as Zhao Ziyang.

"[10] According to The Economist, "[e]specially when meeting foreigners, officials may present name cards bearing government titles but stay quiet about party positions which may or may not outrank their state jobs.

"[12]: 35 The integration of the CCP and the state has accelerated under Xi Jinping, chairing eight party commissions that direct government bodies.

The legal power of the CCP is guaranteed by the PRC Constitution and its position as the supreme political authority in the People's Republic of China is put in practice through its comprehensive control of the state, military, and media.

[14] Under China's current Constitution, the NPC is structured as a unicameral legislature, with the power to legislate, to oversee the operations of the government, and to elect the major officials of state.

[19] The NPC, elected for a term of five years, holds annual sessions every spring, usually lasting from 10 to 14 days, in the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

[5]: 55  Its officially mandated purpose is to conduct policy discussions and make decisions on major issues when the Politburo, a larger decision-making body, is not in session.

[26] Under the PRC's constitution, the President of the People's Republic of China is a largely ceremonial office with limited powers.

[27] However, since 1993, as a matter of convention, the presidency has been held simultaneously by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, the top leader in the one-party system.

[28] The office is officially regarded as an institution of the state rather than an administrative post; theoretically, the president serves at the pleasure of the National People's Congress, the legislature, and is not legally vested to take executive action on its own prerogative.

The office was first established in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China in 1954 and successively held by Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi.

It is appointed by the National People's Congress and is chaired by the premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency.

[34]: 28  Official documents include ones which must be strictly implemented by lower levels of government (such as "Decisions" and "Orders"), ones which can be treated more flexibly (such as "Opinions" and "Notices"), and ones with less or more general content (such as "Letters" and "Minutes").

Under the arrangement of "one institution with two names", both commissions have identical personnel, organization and function, and operate under both the party and state systems.

[37] It closely operates together with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP, and effectively acts as the state arm of the CCDI.

[citation needed] The governors of China's provinces and autonomous regions and mayors of its directly administered municipalities are appointed by the State Council after receiving the nominal consent of the National People's Congress (NPC).

The Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions (SARS) have significant local autonomy including separate governments, legal systems, and basic constitutional laws, but must follow the central government in foreign policy and national security, and their chief executives are effectively picked by the CCP Politburo.

[44][45]: 7  The central government sets the strategic direction while local officials carry it out,[45]: 7  including developing the details of policy.

[46]: 30  Academics Sebastian Heilmann and Elizabeth Perry write that policy-making in China is influenced by the Chinese Communist Revolution, resulting in a policy approach that combined centralized leadership with intense mass mobilization, and that this mode of governance is defined by continuous experimentation and improvisation.

[52]: 49–51  Academic Thomas Heberer attributes China's state capacity to: (1) the legitimacy of its political system as viewed by its citizens, (2) the ability to exercise social control and regulation, (3) coercive resources, (4) the capacity to consult and collaborate with emerging social groups and organizations to balance conflicting interests, and (5) the ability to learn from failures and mistakes.