State councilor

The state councillor (Chinese: 国务委员; pinyin: guówù wěiyuán) is a powerful position within the State Council of the People's Republic of China, i.e. the executive organ of China's central government (comparable to a cabinet). It ranks immediately below the Vice-Premiers and above the Ministers of various departments. The position was created during the May 1982 restructuring of the State Council, when eleven state councillors were appointed, ten of whom were vice premiers until then.

Role

In theory, state councilors are to assist the Premier and Vice-Premiers to oversee various government portfolios. They can also represent the State Council (and in turn, China's government) on foreign visits. state councilors are part of a Standing Committee of the State Council, alongside the Premier, Vice-Premiers, and the Secretary General of the State Council. The organ holds weekly meetings. In practice, a state councilor's portfolios can be very wide-ranging. State councilors often accompany China's higher dignitaries on trips abroad - as was the case with State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan from 2003–08, and Dai Bingguo from 2008–present. Dai also became China's representative at the 2009 G8 Summit in Italy when President Hu Jintao decided to cut short his attendance to return to China in order to deal with the July 2009 Urumqi riots.