|
Independent States |
|
|
CHINA (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo) (People's Republic of China) |
Regime : Comunist
State Jiang Zemin
- Chief of
State (President since 27 of March 1993) President and vice
president elected by the National People's Congress
for five-year terms ; elections last held 16-18
March 1998 (next to be held NA March
2003) Hu
Jintao (Vice-President since 16 of March 1998) Zhu
Rongji - Head of
government: (Prime Minister depuis le 17 mars 1998) Premier nominated by the
president, confirmed by the National People's
Congress. Legislative
: Unicameral National
People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui
(2,979 seats ; members elected by municipal,
regional, and provincial people's congresses to
serve five-year terms) Elections : last held NA
December-NA February 1998 (next to be held late
2002-NA March 2003) |
||||||||||
JAPAN (Japan) |
Regime : Constitutional
Monarchy Emperor
AKIHITO
- Chief of
State (Emperor since 7 of January 1989) The monarch is
hereditary. Junichiro
Koizumi - Head of the
Government Born : January 8,
1942 Party : LDP (Jiyu
Minshu To / Liberal Democratic Party) {no factional
affiliation} (Prime Minister since 26 April 2001) The Diet designates the
prime minister ; the constitution requires that the
prime minister must command a parliamentary
majority, therefore, following legislative
elections, the leader of the majority party or
leader of a majority coalition in the House of
Representatives usually becomes prime minister.
Legislative
: Bicameral Diet or Kokkai
consists of the House of Councillors or Sangi-in
(252 seats ; one-half of the members elected every
three years - 76 seats of which are elected from
the 47 multi-seat prefectural districts and 50 of
which are elected from a single nationwide list
with voters casting ballots by party ; members
elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms)
and the House of Representatives or Shugi-in (500
seats - 200 of which are elected from 11 regional
blocks on a proportional representation basis and
300 of which are elected from 300 single-seat
districts ; members elected by popular vote to
serve four-year terms) Elections : House of
Councillors - last held 12 July 1998 (next to be
held NA July 2001) House of Representatives - last
held 24 and 25 of June 2000: victory of the Liberal
Democratic Party (Jiyu Minshu to-JMt) winning 233
of the 480 seats (next to be held by 2004)
. |
||||||||||
NORTH KOREA (Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk) (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) |
Communist state ;
one-man dictatorship KIM Jhong Il -
Chief of State (President since 25 February 1998) note - in September 1998,
KIM Chong-il was reelected Chairman of the National
Defense Commission, a position accorded the
nation's "highest administrative
authority". Kim
Young-nam (President of the Supreme
People's Assembly Presidium since 1998) KIM Young-nam was named
President of the Supreme People's Assembly
Presidium and given the responsibility of
representing the state and receiving diplomatic
credentials. Hong
Song-nam
- Head of the Government (Prime Minister since 21
February 1997 - acting to 5 september 1998)
Premier elected by the
Supreme People's Assembly. Legislative
: Unicameral Supreme
People's Assembly or Ch'oego Inmin Hoeui (687 seats
; members elected by popular vote to serve
five-year terms) Elections : last held 26 July 1998
(next to be held NA) |
||||||||||
SOUTh KOREA (Taehan-min'guk) (Republic of Korea) |
Regime : Republic Kim Dae-jung
- Chief of
State (President since 25 of February 1998) President elected by
popular vote for a single five-year term ; election
last held 18 December 1997 (next to be held by 18
December 2002) Lee
Han-dong
- Head of the Government (Prime Minister since 29 of June 2000) Prime minister appointed
by the president. Legislative
: Unicameral National
Assembly or Kukhoe (299 seats ; members elected by
popular vote to serve four-year terms) Elections :
last held 13 April 2000 ; the conservative Grand
National Party (Hannara Dang) won with 39% of the
votes ahead of the Millenium Party (Minju
Dang)-35.9% .(Next to be held NA 2004) |
||||||||||
TAIWAN (Republic of China on Taiwan) |
Regime : Republic Chen
Shui-bian -
Chief of
State Born :
February 18, 1950 o a
farmer's family in Tainan County, southern Taiwan.
Education / Profession :
After graduating from
the Law School of National Taiwan University in
1974, Chen began practicing as a lawyer in
Taipei. Party
: MCT (Min-chu Chin-pu
Tang / Democratic Progressive Party, liberal)
(President since 20 May 2000) President and vice
president elected on the same ticket by popular
vote for four-year terms ; election last held18
March 2000 -CHENG SHUI-biang elected (next to be
held NA 2004) Annette Lu Hsiu-lien
- Vice President Born : June 7, 1944
in Taoyuan, in northern Taiwan Education :
Attended Taiwan's top girls' high school, and then
studied law at the country's top university,
National Taiwan University, graduating first in her
class in 1967. She went on to earn a master's
degree in Comparative Law from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1971, and an LL.M.
from Harvard in 1978. Party :
MCT (Min-chu Chin-pu
Tang / Democratic Progressive Party, liberal)
(Vice President since 20 of May 2000) Chang
Chun-hsiung
- Head of the Government Born : March 23,
1938 Education : LL.B.,
National Taiwan University Party
: MCT (Min-chu Chin-pu
Tang / Democratic Progressive Party, liberal)
(Prime Minister since 6 October 2000) Premier appointed by the
president. Legislative
: Unicameral Legislative
Yuan (225 seats -168 elected by popular vote, 41
elected on the basis of the proportion of
nationwide votes received by participating
political parties, eight elected from overseas
Chinese constituencies on the basis of the
proportion of nationwide votes received by
participating political parties, eight elected by
popular vote among the aboriginal populations;
members serve three-year terms) and unicameral
National Assembly (334 seats ; members elected by
popular vote to serve four-year terms) Elections :
Legislative Yuan - last held 5 December 1998 (next
to be held NA December 2001) National Assembly -
last held 18 March 2000 (next to be held NA 2004)
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
