TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

The Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper, the People’s Daily, ran an article criticizing calls for Western-inspired political reform, obliquely rejecting Premier Wen Jiabao’s call for more reform. A New York Times article captures how very odd this is:

A Beijing scholar of the leadership, Russell Leigh Moses, called the editorial “a reminder to cadres that the party will set the tone and terms of the debate on political reform.”

Not only has the party censored Wen’s remarks on reform, but it is apparently openly arguing against them, saying that any political reform should should strengthen leadership within the party.

Wen Jiabao is Premier of the People’s Republic of China’s State Council, so he is, ostensibly, head of government. Normally, since they lead the government, this would mean that Wen and President Hu Jintao are the country’s leaders.

But China doesn’t have a system of government that is at all familiar to us. While their titles are similar (“Premier,” “President”), the government isn’t really the nation’s sovereign body. The party is. The above quote from the New York Times article reflects this perverse arrangement; the government doesn’t lead the nation, the party does.

What’s even more odd, though, is Wen holds a large amount of power within the party, too. The party is controlled by the Politburo Standing Committee (which is headed by President Hu)—and Wen ranks third on the Committee.

This is an excellent example of how perverse China’s political system is. The government’s second most important leader, the Premier and head of the state’s cabinet, can be censored by a political party, and can be challenged by anonymous individuals within the party. Was this directed by Hu Jintao or his supporters (who is more conservative then Wen), or are there other elements within the party contesting Wen’s push for liberalization?

That raises an interesting question: who exactly is in charge of the CCP? That isn’t at all clear.