Central Military Commission ( People ' s Republic of China ) The Central Military Commission ( CMC ) ( ) is the national defense organization of the People ' s Republic of China . It refers to one of two organizations of the People ' s Republic of China : either the " Central Military Commission of the People ' s Republic of China " ( a state organ ) or the " Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China " ( a party organ ) . The command and control of the People ' s Liberation Army ( Chinese armed forces ) is exercised in name by the ' state CMC ' , supervised by the Standing Committee of the National People ' s Congress . The state CMC is nominally considered the supreme military policy - making body and its chairman , elected by the National People ' s Congress , is the commander - in - chief of the armed forces . In reality , command and control of the PLA , however , still resides with the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee — the ' party CMC ' . Both commissions are identical in membership , thus actually forming one identical institution under two different names ( called ) , in order to fit in both state government and party systems . Both commissions are currently chaired by Chairman Hu Jintao . The 11 - man commission issues directives relating to the PLA , including senior appointments , troop deployments and arms spending . Almost all the members are senior generals , but the most important posts have always been held by the party ' s most senior leaders to ensure absolute loyalty of the armed forces and to ensure the survival of the regime . The CMC is housed in the Ministry of National Defense compound ( " August 1st Building " ) in western Beijing . Origin . The party military committee dates back to October 1925 , and while operating under various degrees of authority and responsibility , was consistently named the " Zhongyang Junshi Weiyuanhui " ( Central Military Affairs Commission ) . Among Western commentators , “ Affairs ” is frequently dropped from the title . As a commission , it ranks higher in the party hierarchy than departments such as the Organization or United Front Departments . In the September 1949 reorganization , a government counterpart , the " Zhongyang Zhengfu Geming Junshi Weiyuanhui " ( Central Revolutionary Government Military Affairs Commission ) was established . This evolved into the September 1954 " Guofang Weiyuanhui " ( National Defense Commission ) and later into today ’ s State CMC , which was created in 1982 by the Constitution of the People ' s Republic of China 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 . Command structure . Unlike in most countries , the Central Military Commission is not considered as just another ministry . Although China does have a Ministry of National Defense , headed by a Minister of National Defense , it exists solely for liaison with foreign militaries and does not have command authority . One of the few other nations with the same structure is Vietnam . The most important chain of command runs from the CMC to the four General Headquarters ( General Staff Department , General Political Department , General Logistic Department , General Armament Department ) and , in turn , to each of the service branches ( ground , navy and air forces ) and military region s . In addition , the CMC also has direct control over the Second Artillery Corps ( strategic missile force ) , the National Defense University , and the Academy of Military Science . As stipulated in the 1997 National Defense Law , the CMC also controls the paramilitary People ’ s Armed Police ( PAP ) , who have the politically sensitive role of guarding key government buildings , including the main leadership compound of Zhongnanhai in Beijing . The CMC shares command authority with the Ministry of Public Security of the State Council . Although in theory the CMC has the highest military command authority , in reality the ultimate decision making power concerning war , armed forces , and national defense resides with the Communist Party ’ s Politburo . The CMC is usually chaired by the General Secretary of CPC , who is supported by two to three Vice Chairmen , including the Minister of National Defense . Members of the CMC normally includes the Directors of the PLA ’ s Four General Headquarters and the Commander of the Air Force , Navy , and Second Artillery . Political structure . The armed forces of China are commanded by General Staff Headquarters , the General Political Department , the General Logistics Department and the General Armaments Department of the PLA , which implements the directives of the Central Military Commission . Along with the General Secretary of the Communist Party and President , the Chairman of the Central Military Commission is one of the most powerful leaders in Chinese politics . The Chairman of the CMC was twice in its history held by a senior official who had given up his other posts , as in the case of Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin . In the case of Deng Xiaoping , because of his prestige , he was able to exercise considerable power after his retirement , in part from his position as CMC Chairman . There was speculation that Jiang Zemin would have been able to retain similar authority after his retirement from the positions of General Secretary and President , but this did not turn out to be so . One major factor is that in contrast to Deng Xiaoping , who always had close relations with the People ' s Liberation Army , Jiang had no military background . In addition , with the promotion of the fourth generation of Chinese leaders to lead the civilian party , there was also a corresponding promotion of military leaders . All the military members of the CMC come from Hu Jintao ' s generation rather than from Jiang ' s , and at the time of the leadership transition , there appeared some very sharp editorials from military officers suggesting that the military would have strong objections to Jiang attempting to exercise power behind the scenes . Jiang Zemin retired from his post as Chairman of the party ' s Central Military Commission in September 2004 to Hu Jintao , and from the state ' s in March 2005 , solidifying Hu ' s position as paramount leader . In China ' s state - party - military tripartite political system , the CMC itself is a decision - making body whose day - to - day affairs are not nearly as transparent as that of the Central Committee or the State Council . As one of China ' s three main decision making bodies the relative influence of the CMC can vary depending on the time period and the leaders . In the event of war or political crisis , for example , the CMC may well function as a " de facto " executive for the country ' s daily affairs . The Tiananmen Protests of 1989 illustrates how the Central Military Commission functions . CMC Chairman Deng Xiaoping proposed the imposition martial law and the use of armed soldiers to suppress unarmed demonstrations in Beijing . Under the constitution of the Chinese Communist Party , the CMC is subordinate to the Politburo . Three members of the Politburo Standing Committee voted for martial law while two , General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and President Yang Shangkun , voted against it . Election of members . Theoretically , the CCP ( party ) CMC is elected by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and is subordinate to the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee ( PBSC ) . In practice , membership is very closely controlled by the PBSC . Similarly , the State CMC is nominally elected by the National People ' s Congress and theoretically reports to the Congress , but is in practice indistinguishable from the CCP CMC . This difference in elections also results in the only difference in membership between the two bodies , as party organs , such as the party congress and the Central Committee assemble at different times than the National People ' s Congress . For example , some were elected into the party CMC in the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2002 , but they entered the state CMC in March 2003 , when the 10th National People ' s Congress convened . The members are generally uniformed military commanders , except for the chairman and first vice - chairman , who have both been drawn from the Politburo in recent years . The military members are generally members of neither the Politburo Standing Committee nor the State Council outside of the Minister of National Defense , although they all tend to be members of the Communist Party and are members of the Central Committee . The military members are apparently chosen with regular promotion procedures from within the PLA . Membership . According to the Constitution of the People ' s Republic of China , the CMC is composed of the following : the Chairman ; the Vice - Chairmen ; and Members . The Chairman of the Central Military Commission has overall responsibility for the commission . As of May 2009 ( dates refer to tenure on the CCP MAC ) : Chairman : Vice Chairmen : Members : Organization . The exact internal organisation of the CMC is highly secretive . However , it is known that the CMC contains at least five key organs . The General 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 . Proposed reorganization . There has been an effort to establish a national security council - type body that would presumably assume greater control over government bodies vital to national security , including the People ' s Liberation Army . It is not clear what role the CMC would play in such a reorganization .