The chairman of the Central Military Commission is the head of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP) and the Militia. The officeholder is additionally vested with command authority over the nuclear arsenal of the People's Republic of China. There are technically two offices with the same name; the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Military Commission and chairman of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Central Military Commission. However, under the arrangement of "one institution with two names", they function as one office.
The officeholder is usually the CCP general secretary; this grants significant political power as the only member of the Politburo Standing Committee with direct responsibilities for the armed forces. The chairman assumes overall responsibility over the work of the CMC. Per the chairman responsibility system, all significant issues in national defense are planned and decided by the CMC chairman, who holds the final deciding vote on major military decisions and oversees the CMC's and the military's leadership and operations. 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 introduction 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. The office confers military ranks, though regulations stipulate that no military rank shall be conferred on the chairman themselves.
According to the state constitution, the state CMC chairman is responsible to the National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee. The state CMC chairman is officially nominated by the Presidium of the NPC during a session and approved by the delegations of the NPC, and its term of office is the same as the NPC. The Party CMC chairman is officially elected by the CCP's Central Committee. The current chairman is Xi Jinping, who took office as the Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission on 15 November 2012, and as the Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission on 14 March 2013.
List of chairmen Chinese Communist Party The following have held the position of chair of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party: Portrait Name Term of office Took office Left office Time in office Head of the Military Department 1 Zhang Guotao December 1925 September 1926 Secretary of the Central Military Commission 2 Zhou Enlai September 1926 October 1928 Head of the Military Department 3 Yang Yin October 1928 September 1929 (2) Zhou Enlai September 1929 March 1930 Secretary of the Central Military Commission 4 Guan Xiangying March 1930 August 1930 (2) Zhou Enlai August 1930 June 1931 Head of the Military Department 5 Li Fuchun June 1931 January 1932 Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Soviet Republic 6 Xiang Ying January 1932 October 1932 7 Zhu De October 1932 December 1936 8 Mao Zedong December 1936 1 October 1949 Abolished Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (8) Mao Zedong 8 September 1954 9 September 1976 † 9 Hua Guofeng 7 October 1976 28 June 1981 10 Deng Xiaoping 28 June 1981 9 November 1989 11 Jiang Zemin 9 November 1989 19 September 2004 12 Hu Jintao 19 September 2004 15 November 2012 13 Xi Jinping 15 November 2012 Incumbent
People's Republic of China The following have held the position of chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China: Portrait Name Term of office Took office Left office Time in office Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government 1 Mao Zedong 1 October 1949 27 September 1954 Chairman of the National Defense Commission of the People's Republic of China (1) Mao Zedong 27 September 1954 27 April 1959 2 Liu Shaoqi 27 April 1959 31 October 1968 Vacant Abolished Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China 3 Deng Xiaoping 6 June 1983 19 March 1990 4 Jiang Zemin 19 March 1990 8 March 2005 5 Hu Jintao 8 March 2005 14 March 2013 6 Xi Jinping 14 March 2013 Incumbent
See also Office of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission List of leaders of the People's Republic of China Paramount leader
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