Central Military Commission (China)

The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the supreme military leadership body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), which heads the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia. There are technically two separate commissions; the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party and the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, though under an arrangement termed "one institution with two names", they function as a single institution. The CMC chairman is concurrently held by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in line with the CCP's absolute control over the military.

The CCP first established a military department in 1925. The CCP Central Revolutionary Military Commission was established in 1937, which later evolved to the Central Military Commission in 1945. After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, in 1949, military leadership was transferred to the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government; there was no separate CCP organ during this time. In 1954, the CCP Central Military Commission was re-established, while state military authority was transferred to the National Defense Commission. In 1975, during the Cultural Revolution, the NDC was abolished, leaving the Party CMC as the sole governing body of the military. In 1982, the State Central Military Commission was established in order to formalize its role within the government structure. In 2016, a series of institutional reforms of the CMC bodies was undertaken, with PLA's four general departments being replaced by 15 departments that report directly to the CMC.

Aside from periods of transition, both commissions have identical personnel, organization and functions. The commission's parallel hierarchy allows the CCP to supervise the political and military activities of the PLA, including issuing directives on senior appointments, troop deployments and arms spending. The CMC is chaired by Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and paramount leader. Almost all the members are senior generals or admirals, but the chairmanship has always been held by the party's most senior leaders (who are civilians under the principle that "the Party commands the gun") to ensure the loyalty of the armed forces. The chairman has absolute leadership over the commission per the chairman responsibility system. The CMC has 15 general departments and the five theater commands, through which it oversees each of the service branches of the PLA. The CMC is housed in the Ministry of National Defense compound (August 1st Building) in western Beijing.

History

In 1925, the CCP's Central Military Department, was renamed the Central Military Commission. It was first led by Zhang Guotao who was replaced by Zhou Enlai in 1926 as head of the CMC.

People's Republic of China

After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949, military leadership was transferred to a government body, the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government. During this period, there was no separate supreme military leadership organ of the CCP. In 1954, the CCP Central Military Commission was re-established, while state military authority was transferred to the National Defense Commission chaired by the Chairman of China with the adoption of the 1954 constitution.

As Mao Zedong was also the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and led military affairs as a whole, the CMC and NDC's day-to-day work was carried out by its first-ranking vice-chairman, a post which was occupied by Lin Biao until his death in 1971, then by Ye Jianying. As a consequence of the Cultural Revolution, the Party CMC became the sole military overseeing body, and the National Defence Council was abolished in 1975.

Deng Xiaoping's efforts to institutionally separate the CCP and the state led to the establishment of today's State CMC, which was created in 1982 by the state constitution in order to formalize the role of the military within the government structure. Both the National Defense Commission and State CMC have been described as 'consultative' bodies. Contrarily to the National Defense Council, however, the party and state CMCs are almost identical in leadership, composition, and powers. The CMC began a broad effort to reform its doctrine, operations, and equipment in anticipation of what Chinese leadership expected would be an increasingly hostile United States. He provided broad policy guidance but few detailed instructions. The CMC has the ultimate command authority over the armed forces of the People's Republic of China, including the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia.

Structure

There are two separate commissions; the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party and the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China. The commission's parallel hierarchy allows the CCP to supervise the political and military activities of the PLA, including issuing directives on senior appointments, troop deployments and arms spending. The CMC is extremely opaque, and its meetings are almost never publicized.

The CMC is composed of a chairman, vice chairpersons, and other members. Other members of the CMC are the chairman's top aides to assist his final say over key CMC matters. The chairman is the decision-maker regarding the decisions to enter war, formulates China's national defense strategy, orders troop deployments, and decides on research and development and the induction of strategic weapons. The chairman also has the exclusive right to appoint of CMC members and commanders up to the level of a headquarters department, military region, and service command. According to CMC work rules, other members of the commission are required to maintain absolute political loyalty to the chairman and implement all directives issued, as well as seek approval for travel, leave and public appearances and provide regular reports of their activities.

Election

The members of the Party CMC are elected by the CCP's Central Committee. but is in practice indistinguishable from the Party CMC. The new 15 departments are:

General Office (Deputy Theater Grade)
Joint Staff Department (CMC Member Grade)
Political Work Department (CMC Member Grade)
Discipline Inspection Commission (CMC Member Grade)
Politics and Legal Affairs Commission (Theater Grade)
Logistic Support Department (Deputy Theater Grade)
Equipment Development Department (Deputy Theater Grade)
Training Administration Department (Deputy Theater Grade)
National Defense Mobilization Department (Deputy Theater Grade)
Science and Technology Commission (Deputy Theater Grade)
Office for Strategic Planning (Corps Grade)
Office for Reform and Organizational Structure (Corps Grade)
Office for International Military Cooperation (Corps Grade)
Audit Office (Corps Grade)
Agency for Offices Administration (Corps Grade)

The Joint Staff Department is the nerve center of the entire Chinese military command and control system, responsible for daily administrative duties of the CMC. The General Office processes all CMC communications and documents, coordinate meetings, and convey orders and directives to other subordinate organs.

Joint control organs

The Central Military Commission Joint Operations Command Center was separated from the Joint Staff in the 2015 reforms and made directly commanded by the CMC. As well as serving as the command center for overall PLA joint operations, it supervises the Joint Operation Command Organs of each of the five command theaters.

Former post of Secretary-General

The Commission included the post of secretary-general until 1992. This post was held by Yang Shangkun (1945–1954), Huang Kecheng (1954–1959), Luo Ruiqing (1959–1966), Ye Jianying (1966–1977), Luo Ruiqing (1977–1979), Geng Biao (1979–1981), Yang Shangkun (1981–1989), Yang Baibing (1989–1992).

Members

According to military regulations, the chairman of the CMC shall be conferred with no military rank, while vice chairmen and members of the CMC are conferred the rank of general or admiral by the virtue of their office. The make-up of the current Central Military Commission of the CCP was determined at the 20th Party Congress held in October 2022; the state commission was confirmed at the 1st Session of the 14th National People's Congress.

Both Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were removed in January 2026, effectively leaving only two members of the CMC: the chairman and one Vice Chairman.

; CMC Chairman:

: Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, President of China

; CMC Vice Chairmen (1)

23px|link=People's Liberation Army Rocket Force General Zhang Shengmin, also Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission

High command

, China's Ministry of National Defense lists its high command as:

{|class="wikitable"

! width=40% style="margin:center; background:#069; color:#fff;" | Institution 

! width=60% style="margin:center; background:#069; color:#fff;" | Leaders 

|colspan=2 style="text-align:center;background:#BDBDBD"|Membership of the Central Military Commission

| Chairman

| Xi Jinping (习近平)

|Vice Chairmen

|Zhang Youxia (张又侠) Zhang Shengmin (张升民)

| Members

| Liu Zhenli (刘振立)

|colspan=2 style="text-align:center;background:#BDBDBD"|CMC Functional Departments

|General Office

| Director: PLAGF Lt Gen Fang Yongxiang: (方永祥)

|Joint Staff Department

|Chief of Staff: PLAGF Gen Liu Zhenli