In the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC), supreme command of the armed forces is exercised by the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP). A parallel state CMC (PRC CMC) exists. Legally the two CMCs have separate responsibilities, but the distinction is practically irrelevant because the bodies typically have the same members. Since 1989, the

CCP General Secretary The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party ...

chairs the CMC, and represents the armed forces in the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, the country's ruling body.

History

When the PRC was founded in 1949, command of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

(PLA) was transferred to the People's Revolutionary Military Council, a state body, with the CCP leading the coalition government. The CCP CMC was abolished. The 1954 PRC constitution designated the president as the supreme commander, and also as the chair of the National Defense Council (NDC). At the same time, the CCP CMC was reestablished and became the primary policy-making body for the armed forces. The separation of command and policy-making between the state and the party was bridged by the shared memberships of the state and party bodies; for example,

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

was president and CMC chairman from 1954 to 1959. In the late-1970s and the end of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, the Chinese president was abolished and revisions to the PRC and CCP constitutions made the CCP chairman the supreme commander.

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

's political reforms again divided responsibilities for the armed forces between the party and the state. The 1982 PRC constitution created the PRC CMC to formally exercise supreme command, with the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

selecting the chairman, and handle all matters except political work. The CCP CMC — as defined in the 1982 CCP constitution — was responsible for political work. Again, conflicts between the CMCs were eliminated by shared membership. The relationship between the CMCs and various state and party bodies can make the exercise of supreme command legally ambiguous. The ambiguity may have caused the CCP's regular demands for loyalty from the armed forces since the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

References

Citations

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Supreme Military Command Of The People's Republic Of China Military of the People's Republic of China Politics of the People's Republic of China Commanders in chief