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Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China)

Commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army

Field	Value
post	Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China
native_name	中国共产党中央军事委员会主席
中华人民共和国中央军事委员会主席
insignia	Danghui.svg
insigniasize	85px
insigniacaption	Emblem of the Chinese Communist Party
flag	National Emblem of the People's Republic of China (2).svg
flagsize	100px
flagcaption	National Emblem of China
image	Xi Jinping meets Keir Starmer Jan 2026.jpg
imagesize	200px
incumbent	Xi Jinping
incumbentsince	15 November 2012 (party commission)
14 March 2013 (state commission)
residence	Zhongnanhai
seat	August 1st Building, Beijing
style	{{plainlist
type	Commander-in-chief
department	Central Military Commission
appointer	Party Central Committee (party commission)
National People's Congress (state commission)
termlength	Five years, renewable
formation	(party commission)
(state commission)
inaugural	Zhang Guotao (party commission)
Mao Zedong (state commission)
deputy	Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission
nominator	Party Central Committee (party commission)
Presidium of the National People's Congress (state commission)
status	National-level official

Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国中央军事委员会主席 14 March 2013 (state commission)

Chairman (主席) (informal)
Comrade (同志) (formal) National People's Congress (state commission) (state commission) Mao Zedong (state commission) Presidium of the National People's Congress (state commission)

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, including 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 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. 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:

No.	Portrait	Name
(birth–death)	Term of office	Ref.	Took office	Left office	Time in office	*Abolished
1 October 1949 – 8 September 1954*
Head of the Military Department
1	[[File:Zhang Guotao3.jpg	60px]]	Zhang Guotao
(1897–1979)	December 1925	September 1926		last=Zhang	first=Heng	date=27 July 2025	title=第二次国内革命战争时期的“中革军委”	trans-title=The Central Revolutionary Military Commission during the Second Revolutionary Civil War	url=http://scdfz.sc.gov.cn/whzh/hswh/content_181358	access-date=25 January 2026	website=Sichuan Provincial Local History Office}}
Secretary of the Central Military Commission
2	[[File:國共內戰時期周恩來.jpg	60px]]	Zhou Enlai
(1898–1976)	September 1926	October 1928
Head of the Military Department
3	[[File:Yangyin.jpg	60px]]	Yang Yin
(1892–1929)	October 1928	September 1929
(2)	[[File:國共內戰時期周恩來.jpg	60px]]	Zhou Enlai
(1898–1976)	September 1929	March 1930
Secretary of the Central Military Commission
4	[[File:Guan Xiangying.jpg	60px]]	Guan Xiangying
(1902–1946)	March 1930	August 1930
(2)	[[File:國共內戰時期周恩來.jpg	60px]]	Zhou Enlai
(1898–1976)	August 1930	June 1931
Head of the Military Department
5	[[File:Li Fuchun.jpg	60px]]	Li Fuchun
(1900–1975)	June 1931	January 1932
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Soviet Republic
6	[[File:XIang Ying.jpg	60px]]	Xiang Ying
(–1941)	January 1932	October 1932
7	[[File:Zhu De3 (cropped).jpg	86x86px]]	Zhu De
(1886–1976)	October 1932	December 1936
8	[[File:1967-10 1936年毛泽东在陕北.jpg	75x75px]]	Mao Zedong
(1893–1976)	December 1936	1 October 1949		date=24 August 2011	title=毛泽东生平简介	trans-title=Brief Biography of Mao Zedong	url=https://www.edu.cn/personage_11520/20110824/t20110824_673476.shtml	access-date=2026-01-24	website=China Education and Research Network	archive-date=18 August 2012	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818101851/http://www.edu.cn/personage_11520/20110824/t20110824_673476.shtml	url-status=live }}
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party
(8)	[[File:Mao Zedong in 1954 at the 1st National People's Congress promulgating the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, PRC consitution vote (cropped).jpg	60x60px]]	Mao Zedong
(1893–1976)	8 September 1954	9 September 1976 †
9	[[File:Musée_de_Bretagne_-_Hua_Guofeng_197904-02_(cropped).jpg	74x74px]]	Hua Guofeng
(1921–2008)	7 October 1976	28 June 1981
10	[[File:Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter at the arrival ceremony for the Vice Premier of China. - NARA - 183157-restored(cropped).jpg	60px]]	Deng Xiaoping
(1904–1997)	28 June 1981	9 November 1989		title=邓小平同志简历	trans-title=Biography of Comrade Deng Xiaoping	url=https://www.zyzw.com/wwww/wwww062.htm	access-date=2026-01-24	website=Zhengyi Art	archive-date=22 April 2023	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422175903/http://zyzw.com/wwww/wwww062.htm	url-status=live }}
11	[[File:Jiang Zemin 2002.jpg	74x74px]]	Jiang Zemin
(1926–2022)	9 November 1989	19 September 2004		last=	date=2013-01-23	title=江泽民同志简历	trans-title=Biography of Comrade Jiang Zemin	url=https://news.sina.cn/sa/2013-01-23/detail-ikmxzfmk1752828.d.html	access-date=2026-01-24	website=Sina Corporation	language=zh-CN}}
12	[[File:Hu Jintao 2012.jpg	74x74px]]	Hu Jintao
(born 1942)	19 September 2004	15 November 2012		date=November 2012	title=胡锦涛同志简历	trans-title=Biography of Comrade Hu Jintao	url=http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/1116/c1001-19601460.html	access-date=2026-01-24	website=People's Daily	archive-date=4 March 2016	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084331/http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/1116/c1001-19601460.html	url-status=live }}
13	[[File:Xi Jinping meets Keir Starmer Jan 2026.jpg	75x75px]]	Xi Jinping
(born 1953)	15 November 2012	Incumbent		date=March 2013	title=习近平同志简历	trans-title=Biography of Comrade Xi Jinping	url=https://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64192/105996/6463136.html	access-date=2026-01-24	website=Chinese Communist Party News Network	archive-date=28 December 2025	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251228030006/https://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64192/105996/6463136.html	url-status=live }}

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:

No.	Portrait	Name
(birth–death)	Term of office	Ref.	Took office	Left office	Time in office	*Vacant
31 October 1968 – 17 January 1975*	*Abolished
17 January 1975 – December 1982*
Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government
1	[[File:Mao Zedong in jeep (cropped).jpg	99x99px]]	Mao Zedong
(1893–1976)	1 October 1949	27 September 1954
Chairman of the People's Republic of China & Chairman of the National Defense Council
(1)	[[File:Mao Zedong in 1954 at the 1st National People's Congress promulgating the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, PRC consitution vote (cropped).jpg	60x60px]]	Mao Zedong
(1893–1976)	27 September 1954	27 April 1959
2	[[File:Liu Shaoqi in 1959.jpg	78x78px]]	Liu Shaoqi
(1898–1969)	27 April 1959	31 October 1968
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China
3	[[File:Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter at the arrival ceremony for the Vice Premier of China. - NARA - 183157-restored(cropped).jpg	60px]]	Deng Xiaoping
(1904–1997)	6 June 1983	19 March 1990
4	[[File:Jiang Zemin 2002.jpg	77x77px]]	Jiang Zemin
(1926–2022)	19 March 1990	8 March 2005
5	[[File:Hu Jintao 2012.jpg	77x77px]]	Hu Jintao
(born 1942)	8 March 2005	14 March 2013
6	[[File:Xi Jinping meets Keir Starmer Jan 2026.jpg	80x80px]]	Xi Jinping
(born 1953)	14 March 2013	Incumbent

References

Works cited

References

Liu, Zhen. (18 October 2022). "What is China's Central Military Commission and why is it so powerful?". [[South China Morning Post]].
Mulvenon, James. "The Yuan Stops Here: Xi Jinping and the "CMC Chairman Responsibility System"".
Zheng, William. (2025-12-03). "Chinese military issues new rules to 'prioritise strict political discipline'".
Ji, You. (2026-01-14). "Chinese Communist Party Endeavors to Institutionalize Armed Power: Civilian Control of China's Central Military Commission". [[The China Journal]].
"Regulations on the Military Ranks of Officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army".
"Constitution of the People's Republic of China".
Liao, Zewei. (2023-03-04). "NPC 2023: How China Selects Its State Leaders for the Next Five Years".
(4 October 2024). "Decoding Chinese Politics: Military".
Zhang, Heng. (27 July 2025). "第二次国内革命战争时期的“中革军委”".
(24 August 2011). "毛泽东生平简介".
(1 September 2008). "华国锋同志生平".
"邓小平同志简历".
(2013-01-23). "江泽民同志简历".
(November 2012). "胡锦涛同志简历".
(March 2013). "习近平同志简历".
(1 March 2004). "刘少奇同志简历".

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