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Ministry of Public Security (China)

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Not to be confused with Ministry of State Security (China).

Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国公安部
Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Gōng'ānbù
Badge of the People's Police (Since 1983)

Ministry of Public Security Headquarters
Agency overview
Formed1954; 71 years ago (1954)
Preceding agency
TypeConstituent Department of the State Council (cabinet-level),
National level police and counterintelligence agency
JurisdictionGovernment of China
HeadquartersNo. 14 East Chang'an Street, Beijing,100741
MottoBe loyal to the Party, Serve the People, Be impartial in law enforcement, and strict in discipline[1]
Employees1.9 million
Minister responsible
Deputy Ministers responsible
Agency executives
  • Ren Airong, Leader of the Discipline Inspection & Supervision Team Dispatched from the CCDI & the NSC
  • Feng Yan, Politics Supervisor
  • Chen Siyuan, the Assistant to the Minister
Parent departmentCentral Political and Legal Affairs Commission
Central National Security Commission
Parent agencyState Council
Child agencies
Websitewww.mps.gov.cn Edit this at Wikidata
Politics of China
Leadership
Leadership generations
Succession of power
Party and state leaders
Orders of precedence
Related systems
Communist Party
History
National People's Congress (14th)
State representative
Executive organ
Military organ
Supervisory organ
Judicial organs
United front
Historical parties:
Propaganda
Cross-Strait relations
Foreign relations
Related topics
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The Ministry of Public Security (MPS, Chinese: 公安部; pinyin: Gōng'ānbù)[a] is a government ministry of the People's Republic of China responsible for public and political security. It oversees more than 1.9 million of the country's law enforcement officers and as such the vast majority of the People's Police. While the MPS is a nationwide police force, conducting counterintelligence and maintaining the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remain its core functions.

The ministry was established in 1949 after the CCP's victory in the Chinese Civil War as the successor to the Central Social Affairs Department and was known as Ministry of Public Security of the Central People's Government until 1954. As the ministry's organization was based on Soviet and Eastern Bloc models, it was responsible for all aspects of national security; ranging from regular police work to intelligence, counterintelligence and the suppression of anti-CCP political and social sentiments. Military intelligence affairs remained with the General Staff Department, while the CCP's International Department was active in fomenting revolutionary tendencies worldwide by funneling weapons, money and resources into various pro-CCP movements. Most of its counterintelligence responsibilities were taken over by the Ministry of State Security with its creation in 1983.

The ministry employs a system of public security bureaus throughout the provinces, cities, municipalities and townships of China. The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau maintain nominally separate police forces. The ministry is headed by the minister of public security. Wang Xiaohong has been the minister in charge since June 2022.

History

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See also: Chinese intelligence activity abroad, Operation Fox Hunt, and Operation Sky Net

The Ministry of Public Security was among the first government organs established in the PRC. It superseded the Ministry of Public Security of the CCP's Central Military Commission (CMC), a transitional body created in July 1949 by removing the security service remit from the CCP's Central Social Affairs Department (SAD). The MPS began operations on 1 November 1949, at the end of a two-week-long National Conference of Senior Public Security Cadres. Most of its initial staff of less than 500 cadres came from the (former) regional CCP North China Department of Social Affairs. At the national level, its creation signaled the formal abolition of the SAD. The ministry moved to its present location, in the heart of the one-time foreign legation quarters in Beijing, in the spring of 1950.[2]

The Ministry of Public Security of the Central People's Government was formed in 1954. Grand General Luo Ruiqing of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) served as its first minister.[3] As the ministry's organization was based on Soviet and Eastern Bloc models, it was responsible for all aspects of national security; ranging from regular police work to intelligence, counterintelligence and the suppression of anti-CCP political and social sentiments.[3][4] Military intelligence affairs remained with the General Staff Department, while the CCP's International Department was active in fomenting revolutionary tendencies worldwide by funneling weapons, money and resources into various pro-CCP movements.[5]

The MPS's Guangzhou office historically handled foreign spies such as Larry Wu-tai Chin.[6]

With the creation of the Ministry of State Security (MSS) in July 1983, MPS lost much of its counterintelligence personnel and remit.[6] Scholars Jichang Lulu and Filip Jirouš have argued that the establishment of the MSS "may have contributed to the illusion that the MPS is simply a law-enforcement police body, separate from intelligence agencies."[7] According to analyst Alex Joske, "the MPS lost much of its foreign intelligence remit after the MSS's creation, but has established new units for cross-border clandestine operations since then."[6] The MPS remains a commonly used cover by MSS officers.[8]

Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the MPS worked to counter Operation Yellowbird.[7]

The MPS and its officers have been active abroad in Operation Fox Hunt and Operation Sky Net.[9][10][11] The MPS under Sun Lijun had reporters from The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong under "full operational surveillance" for their reporting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.[12][6]

In 2017, Europol signed a "strategic cooperation agreement" with the MPS.[13][7] Starting in 2019, the MPS began replacing "domestic security" with "political security" in the names of its units.[7] In 2020, the United States Department of Commerce added the MPS Institute of Forensic Science to the Entity List over human rights issues related to the Uyghur genocide.[14] The institute was removed from the list in 2023 as part of an agreement during the APEC United States 2023 to combat fentanyl trafficking.[15]

MPS has at times been involved in security diplomacy between China and other countries.[16]: 219–220  For example, between 1997 and 2020, it organized 11 bilateral police diplomacy meetings with African countries.[16]: 220  Under Xi Jinping, MPS has increased its training of police officers from other countries.[16]: 241 

In 2022, it was reported that the MPS had established numerous overseas police service stations, which sparked investigations by law enforcement organs in multiple countries.[17][18][19] In 2023, the United States Department of Justice stated that the MPS engages in covert "intelligence and national security operations far beyond China's borders," including "illicit, transnational repression schemes".[20] It charged 34 MPS officers with using fake social media accounts to harass overseas dissidents.[21] The same year, disinformation operations known as Spamouflage or "Dragonbridge" were linked to the MPS.[22] In the run-up to the 2024 United States elections, Spamouflage was identified as having used fake social media accounts in an attempt to amplify divisions in US society.[23]

Function

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The Ministry of Public security is the main police agency of China. It manages the vast majority of the People's Police.[24] The ministry's functions and responsibilities include criminal investigations, managing detention centers, counterterrorism, counternarcotics, transport security, traffic safety, anti-smuggling intelligence gathering and maintaining public security.[24][25]: 40  Additionally, conducting counterintelligence and maintaining the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remain its core functions.[26] It has the primary authority for preventing cyberattacks and it operates the Golden Shield Project.[25]: 143 

Organization

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Headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing

The ministry is headed by the minister of public security. Wang Xiaohong has been the minister in charge since June 2022.[27] The MPS is organized into functional departments (see below). Subordinate to the MPS are the provincial- and municipal-level PSB's (Public Security Bureau) and sub-bureaus at the county and urban district levels. At the grassroots level, finally, there are police stations (Chinese: 派出所; pinyin: Pàichūsuǒ) which serve as the direct point of contact between police and ordinary citizens.[24] While public security considerations have weighed heavily at all levels of administration since the founding of the PRC, the police are perceived by some outside observers to wield progressively greater influence at lower levels of government. Provincial public security bureaus are subject to dual supervision by both local provincial governments and the central government.[28] The ministry is also closely associated with the development of surveillance technologies used by police in China through the Third Research Institute (Chinese: 第三研究所; pinyin: Dì-sān Yánjiūsuǒ; lit. 'No. 3 Research Institute') focused on the development of AI based “smart surveillance,” and censorship technologies.[29]

On 5 March 1989, the MPS issued the "Notice on Issuing the 'Three Rules' Program of the Ministry of Public Security." In order to facilitate the work, the bureaus and departments of the MPS were re-numbered into the first, second, third bureau model. These serial numbers are only used for the public security functional organs. Offices, services, research centers, political departments, etc. do not use serial numbers.[30][31][32]

According to the July 2019 "Provisions on the Functions, Internal Structure and Staffing of the Ministry of Public Security" (Chinese: 公安部职能配置、内设机构和人员编制规定), the MPS is organized into the following institutions:[33][30][31]

Internal Departments

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  • General Office
  • Intelligence Command Center
  • Research Office
  • Inspection and Audit Bureau
  • Personnel Training Bureau
  • Information and Publicity Bureau
  • Bureau of Legal Affairs （sub-ministerial level）
  • Inspection Work Leading Group
  • Party committees
  • Disciplinary Inspection Committee of Subordinate Organs
  • Retired Cadres Bureau

Functional bureaus

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  • Political Security Protection Bureau (1st Bureau)
  • Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau (2nd Bureau)
  • Public Order Bureau (3rd Bureau)
  • Prevention and Processing of Cult Crimes Bureau
  • Criminal Investigations Bureau (5th Bureau)
  • Anti-terrorism Bureau (6th Bureau)
  • Food and Drugs Crime Investigation Bureau (7th Bureau)
  • Special Duty Bureau (8th Bureau)
  • Central Guard Bureau (9th Bureau)
  • Bureau of Railway Public Security Bureau (10th Bureau)
  • Network Security Protection Bureau (11th Bureau)
  • Technical Reconnaissance Bureau (12th Bureau)
  • Prison Administration Bureau (13th Bureau)
  • Customs Smuggling Bureau (14th Bureau)
  • China Civil Aviation Administration PSB (15th Bureau)
  • Bureau of Police Service Guarantee (16th Bureau)
  • Bureau of Traffic Control (17th Bureau)
  • Legal Affairs Bureau (18th Bureau)
  • Bureau of International Cooperation (19th Bureau)
  • Equipment and Finances Bureau (20th Bureau)
  • Drug Control Bureau (21st Bureau)
  • Bureau of Scientific and Technological Informatization (22nd Bureau)

In line with the extensive use of two names, one institution in Chinese bureaucracy, the Economic Crime Investigation Bureau is co-located with the Securities Crime Investigation Bureau.[citation needed] The International Arrests Bureau is located in the International Cooperation Bureau, and is under the unified leadership of the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group.[citation needed] The daily work of the Political Department of the Ministry of Public Security is carried out by the Inspectorate Audit Bureau, the Personnel Training Bureau, and the Press and Publicity Bureau.[citation needed]

Functional organs

[edit]
  • Yangtze River Shipping PSB (deputy department level)

External agencies

[edit]
  • Embassies' and General Consulates' Police Affairs Liaison Organs
  • Liaison Office in Hong Kong
  • Liaison Office in Macao
  • China-Solomon Islands Police Advisory Group

Subordinate units

[edit]
  • Network Technology Research Center
  • Drugs Intelligence Technology Center
  • Information and Communication Center
  • Forensics Center
  • Intelligence Center
  • Resident Identity Card Key Management Center
  • First Research Institute
  • Third Research Institute
  • Science, Technology and Information Research Institute
  • China National Crime Information Center
  • Service Center
  • Road Traffic Safety Research Center
  • Household Management Research Center
  • Internet Crime Information Center
  • People's Police Daily
  • Qunzhong Publishing House
  • Jindun Film and Television Cultural Center
  • Woopecker Magazine
  • Kindergarten
  • Traffic Management Research Center
  • Police Equipment Procurement Center
  • Police Equipment and Materiel Reserve Center
  • CD-ROM Production Source Identification Center
  • Kunming Police Dog Base
  • Nanchang Police Dog Base
  • Nanjing Police Dog Research Institute
  • Police Dog Technical School
  • Beidaihe Guesthouse
  • National Anti-fraud Center
  • News Media Center
  • Data Center
  • Special Duties Preparedness Center
  • Examinations Center

Higher academic institutions

[edit]

Business units

[edit]
  • China Security Anti Counterfeiting Certificate Development Center
  • China Jing'an Trade Company

Social groups

[edit]
  • China Police Heroes and Martyrs Foundation
  • China Police Sports Association

Regional bodies

[edit]

Each provincial-level unit has a Public Security Department (公安厅), or for direct-rule Municipalities a Public Security Bureau with provincial department rank, whose head is appointed by the local People's Government and approved by the MPS.[citation needed]

Internal publications

[edit]
See also: Internal media of the Chinese Communist Party

The journal Public Security Construction（Chinese: 公安建设; pinyin: Gōng'ān jiànshè）was a classified serial publication for internal purposes.[4] During the disastrous Great Leap Forward between 1958 and 1961, the circular Public Security Work Bulletin (Chinese: 公安工作简报; pinyin: Gōng'ān gōngzuò jiǎnbào) was a top-secret serial which often described China's serious food shortages, social unrest and famine directly contradicting Mao Zedong's claims of "bountiful economic fruit".[34][4]

MPS also produces another journal, People's Public Security News (Chinese: 人民公安报; pinyin: Rénmín gōng'ān Bào), and a website, China Police Daily (Chinese: 中国警察网; pinyin: Zhōngguó Jǐngchá Wǎng), for both internal communication and external publicity.[4][35]

United front organization

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The MPS' First Bureau operates a united front organization called the China Association for Friendship.[7]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Mandarin pronunciation: [kʊ́ŋ.án.pû]; abbr. from Chinese: 公共安全部; pinyin: Gōnggòng Ānquán Bù; lit. 'Public Security Ministry' Mandarin pronunciation: [kʊ́ŋ.kʊ̂ŋ án.tɕʰɥɛ̌n pû]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Chinese: 对党忠诚、服务人民、执法公正、纪律严明
  2. ^ Wang Zhongfang, "Gonganbu shi zemyang chenglide," in Zhu Chunlin (ed.) Lishi shunjian (Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe, 1999), Vol. 1, pp. 3–16.
  3. ^ a b Guo, Xuezhi (2012). "From the Social Affairs Department to Ministry of Public Security". China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 64–105. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139150897.003. ISBN 978-1-139-15089-7. OCLC 1277069527.
  4. ^ a b c d Schoenhals, Michael (February 18, 2013). Spying for the People: Mao's Secret Agents, 1949–1967. Cambridge University Press. pp. 31, 42, 105–106, 129. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139084765. ISBN 9781139619714. OCLC 1030095349.
  5. ^ "Intelligence Report: The International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. December 1971. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 31, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d Joske, Alex (January 25, 2022). "Secret police: The Ministry of Public Security's clandestine foreign operations" (PDF). Sinopsis. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e Lulu, Jichang; Jirouš, Filip (February 21, 2022). "Back to the Cheka: The Ministry of Public Security's political protection work" (PDF). Sinopsis. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2022. The CCP security apparatus exploits foreign perceptions of the MPS as equivalent to their own police to further its state security mission. Foreign judiciaries and law enforcement agencies cooperating with the MPS and other organs in the CCP political and legal system become ancillary to the protection of the party's political security.
  8. ^ Joske, Alex (2022). "Nestling spies in the united front". Spies and Lies: How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World. Melbourne: Hardie Grant Books. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-74358-900-7. OCLC 1347020692.
  9. ^ Gan, Nectar (April 18, 2015). "Revealed: the team behind China's Operation Fox Hunt against graft suspects hiding abroad". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on March 6, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  10. ^ Rotella, Sebastian; Berg, Kirsten (July 22, 2021). "Operation Fox Hunt: How China Exports Repression Using a Network of Spies Hidden in Plain Sight". ProPublica. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  11. ^ Walden, Max (January 18, 2022). "'Why stop?': NGO says Australia's failure to block forced return of residents to China has encouraged Beijing". ABC News. Archived from the original on February 28, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  12. ^ Wright, Tom; Hope, Bradley (January 7, 2019). "China Offered to Bail Out Troubled Malaysian Fund in Return for Deals". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on February 12, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  13. ^ Godement, François; Vasselier, Abigaël (December 1, 2017). "China at the gates: A new power audit of EU-China relations". European Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  14. ^ Spegele, Brian; Hutzler, Charles (July 24, 2023). "WSJ News Exclusive | U.S. Weighs Potential Deal With China on Fentanyl". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  15. ^ Alper, Alexandra; Martina, Michael (November 16, 2023). "Biden removes sanctions from Chinese institute in push for fentanyl help". Reuters. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Shinn, David H.; Eisenman, Joshua (2023). China's Relations with Africa: a New Era of Strategic Engagement. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-21001-0.
  17. ^ Griffiths, James; Galea, Irene (September 21, 2022). "Chinese police establish stations overseas in 'worrying' crackdown on citizens abroad". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  18. ^ "Secret Chinese 'police stations' to be investigated around Britain". Politico. November 1, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  19. ^ Cecco, Leyland (November 7, 2022). "'A brazen intrusion': China's foreign police stations raise hackles in Canada". The Guardian. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  20. ^ "Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Newman Delivers Remarks Announcing Transnational Repression Cases". United States Department of Justice. April 17, 2023. Archived from the original on June 17, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  21. ^ Honderich, Holly (April 17, 2023). "FBI makes arrests over alleged secret Chinese 'police stations' in New York". BBC News. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  22. ^ O'Sullivan, Donie; Devine, Curt; Gordon, Allison (November 14, 2023). "China is using the world's largest known online disinformation operation to harass Americans, a CNN review finds". CNN. Archived from the original on November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  23. ^ Hsu, Tiffany; Myers, Steven Lee (April 1, 2024). "China's Advancing Efforts to Influence the U.S. Election Raise Alarms". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  24. ^ a b c "Decoding Chinese Politics: Security". Asia Society. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  25. ^ a b Zhang, Angela Huyue (2024). High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197682258.001.0001. ISBN 9780197682258.
  26. ^ Schwarck, Edward (July 2018). "Intelligence and Informatization: The Rise of the Ministry of Public Security in Intelligence Work in China". The China Journal. 80: 1–23. doi:10.1086/697089. ISSN 1324-9347. S2CID 149764208.
  27. ^ "China's Xi Names Police Ally to Head Public Security Ministry". Bloomberg News. June 28, 2022. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  28. ^ Cheng, Ming (March 1, 1997). "Spy Headquarters Behind the Shrubs -- Supplement to 'Secrets About CPC Spies'". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on July 17, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  29. ^ Kania, Elsa (November 16, 2017). "Seeking a Panacea: The Party-State's Plans for Artificial Intelligence (Part 2)". Centre for Advanced China Research (CACR). Archived from the original on July 17, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  30. ^ a b "The Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China". University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  31. ^ a b "Structure of the public security police; whether witness protection programs exist for those fearing organized crime groups". Refworld. 2014. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  32. ^ "How China stifles dissent without a KGB or Stasi of its own". The Economist. February 15, 2024. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
  33. ^ 国务院. "国务院批转公安部关于企业事业单位公安机构体制改革意见的通知". 中国政府网. Archived from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  34. ^ Cheek, Timothy, ed. (August 23, 2010). A Critical Introduction to Mao. Cambridge University Press. p. 116. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511781476. ISBN 9781139789042.
  35. ^ Lim, J.; Petrone, K. (December 14, 2010). Gender Politics and Mass Dictatorship: Global Perspectives. Springer. p. 238. doi:10.1057/9780230283275. ISBN 9780230283275. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.

Sources

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Ministry of Public Security (China)
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