The Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission are deputies to the chairman of the Central Military Commission, who is the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP) and the Militia.
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. According to military regulations, the vice chairmen are granted the rank of General by the virtue of their posts. Since 1997, the vice chairmen have served as the only members of the CCP Politburo holding military rank.
According to the state constitution, the vice state CMC vice chairmen are elected by the National People's Congress after the nomination of the CMC chairman. According to the Party constitution, the Party CMC vice chairmen are officially elected by the CCP's Central Committee. Currently, Zhang Shengmin is currently serving as the vice chairman.