The Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission are deputies to the chairman of the Central Military Commission. Currently, two generals of the People's Liberation Army are serving as vice chairmen: first-ranked vice chairman Zhang Youxia and second-ranked vice chairman He Weidong. According to military regulations, the vice chairmen are granted the rank of general by the virtue of their posts.[1]
There are technically two offices with the same name, including the vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) CMC and vice chairman of the People's Republic of China (PRC) CMC. However, under the arrangement of "one institution with two names", they function as one office.[2] The vice chairmen usually serve as the only members of the CCP Politburo holding military rank.[3]
According to the state constitution, the vice state CMC vice chairmen is elected by the National People's Congress after the nomination of the CMC chairman.[4] According to the Party constitution, the Party CMC vice chairmen is officially elected by the CCP's Central Committee.[5]