Under the arrangement of "one institution with two names", both commissions have identical personnel, organization and function, and operate under both the party and state systems.

The commission's parallel hierarchy allows the CCP to supervise the political and military activities of the PLA, including issuing directives on senior appointments, troop deployments and arms spending.

As Mao Zedong was also the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and led military affairs as a whole, the CMC and NDC's day-to-day work was carried out by its first-ranking vice-chairman, a post which was occupied by Lin Biao until his death in 1971, then by Ye Jianying.

As a consequence of the Cultural Revolution, the Party CMC became the sole military overseeing body, and the National Defence Council was abolished in 1975.

[4] In China's state-party-military tripartite political system, the CMC itself is a decision-making body whose day-to-day affairs are not nearly as transparent as that of the Central Committee or the State Council.

As one of China's three main decision-making bodies the relative influence of the CMC can vary depending on the time period and the leaders.

[5][6][e] The commission's parallel hierarchy allows the CCP to supervise the political and military activities of the PLA,[8] including issuing directives on senior appointments, troop deployments and arms spending.

[11] The most important chain of command runs from the CMC to the 15 general departments and, in turn, to each of the service branches (ground, navy and air forces).

These were abolished after the military reforms in 2016 by order of Chairman Xi Jinping, replaced with 15 departments that report directly to the CMC.

The General Office processes all CMC communications and documents, coordinate meetings, and convey orders and directives to other subordinate organs.