Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on telegram
Share on whatsapp
Share on linkedin
Share on print
Share on email

Public Security Minister Signals Purge With Mentions of Zhou Yongkang

◎ Zhao has criticized Zhou in at least six official meetings since taking office after the 19th Party Congress. 

Zhao Kezhi, the new public security minister, talked about making breakthroughs in implementing public security reform and emphasized the need to purge the  ‘pernicious influence’ of former security czar Zhou Yongkang during a Nov. 24 Ministry of Public Security (MPS) meeting.

The backdrop: Zhao has criticized Zhou in at least six official meetings since taking office after the 19th Party Congress. He has also called on the MPS to remain loyal to Xi Jinping.

Zhao Kezhi on cleaning up Zhou Yongkang’s ‘pernicious influence’
  Date Meeting Speech content
1 11-31-17 Expanded meeting of the Ministry of Public Security Party committee “Put the Party’s political building first, unswervingly persevere with the political building of the police, strictly comply with the Party’s political discipline and regulations, and resolutely purge Zhou Yongkang’s pernicious influence.”  
2 11-2-17 Expanded meeting of the Ministry of Public Security Party committee theoretical study group “Strictly maintain the Party’s political discipline and regulations, unceasingly elevate political consciousness and political ability, resolutely purge Zhou Yongkang’s pernicious influence and ensure absolute loyalty, absolute honesty, and absolute reliability.”
3 11-13-17 Opening ceremony for training sessions on implementing the spirit of the 19th Party Congress for bureau-level officials in the Ministry of Public Security and its subordinate departments “Resolutely purge Zhou Yongkang’s pernicious influence and ensure absolute loyalty, absolute honesty, and absolute reliability.”
4 11-14-17 Ministry of Public Security Paramilitary symposium “Comprehensively and thoroughly purge the pernicious influence of Zhou Yongkang, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou and others, and ensure absolute loyalty, absolute honesty, and absolute reliability.”
5 11-20-17 Ministry of Public Security frontier defense and supervision research group meeting “Comprehensively and thoroughly purge the pernicious influence of Zhou Yongkang, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou and others, make an effort to build a frontier defense team that is up to the mark, and ensure absolute loyalty, absolute honesty, and absolute reliability.”
6 11-24-17 Expanding meeting of the Ministry of Public Security “There must be a new breakthrough in next year’s Ministry of Public Security reforms. Strictly comply with the Party’s political discipline and regulations, and resolutely purge Zhou Yongkang’s pernicious influence.”

Before Xi became CCP General Secretary, the domestic security apparatus was controlled by the Jiang Zemin faction. When Jiang faction members Zhou Yongkang and Guo Shengkun was in charge, criminal cases in China shot up, and organized crime was rampant. The general public considered the MPS the most corrupt and murky government department, and it was the target of popular grievances. Furthermore, the Jiang faction tried to use the People’s Armed Police and public security officers in a coup attempt against Xi in 2012.

Our take:

1. In his 19th Congress report, Xi mentioned the “supremacy of the constitution,” said there was a need for “rule of law,” and announced a new Leading Group for Advancing Law-based Governance. This is consistent with his policies in the past five years where he closed the labor camp system, talked about implementing the “rule of law” in China, and held officials accountable for past wrongdoing even if they are transferred from their office or retired.

But Xi’s earlier reforms was met with stiff resistance from officials of the domestic law and security apparatus. For instance, the five Beijing police officers who killed environmentalist Lei Yang in a case of mistaken identity were found not guilty.

2. Zhao Kezhi’s statements about Zhou Yongkang and the need for making breakthroughs in reform suggests that he is keen to implement Xi’s legal and security apparatus reform vision. We believe that a thorough purge of the public security apparatus is forthcoming.

Search past entries by date

Recommended articles

Political Censorship and the Communist-style Erosion of America
The 2020 US Presidential Election and the Communist Threat
Analyzing the Purge of Wang Qishan Aide Dong Hong
What the ‘Xi-Li Split’ Says About the State of the CCP Regime
Culture Strategy: Inoculating America and the World Against China’s ‘Virulent Strain of Communism’
The Trump Administration Is Tough and Strategic on China
Politics Watch: Hong Kong’s NatSec Set Up Signals ‘Supra-authority’ Status of the CCP’s NatSec Commission
Politics Watch: Ramifications of the Hong Kong Security Law for CCP Factional Politics
Politics Watch: Fourth Plenum Timing and Agenda Confirm Political Crisis in China
Influence Watch: Why the CCP Fears an Ideological Battle and a ‘Clash of Civilizations’
Politics Watch: Xi Faces Pushback from the Intelligence Apparatus
Why Xi Jinping Removed China’s Presidential Term Limit

Testimonials

“The breadth of SinoInsider’s insights—from economics through the military to governance, all underpinned by unparalleled reporting on the people in charge—is stunning. In my over fifty years of in-depth reading on the PRC, unclassified and classified, SinoInsider is in a class all by itself.”
James Newman, Former U.S. Navy cryptologist
“Unique insights are available frequently from the reports of Sinoinsider.”
Michael Pillsbury, Senior Fellow for China Strategy, The Heritage Foundation
“Thank you for your information and analysis. Very useful.”
Prof. Ravni Thakur, University of Delhi, India
“SinoInsider’s research has helped me with investing in or getting out of Chinese companies.”
Charles Nelson, Managing Director, Murdock Capital Partners
“I value SinoInsider because of its always brilliant articles touching on, to name just a few, CCP history, current trends, and factional politics. Its concise and incisive analysis — absent the cliches that dominate China policy discussions in DC and U.S. corporate boardrooms — also represents a major contribution to the history of our era by clearly defining the threat the CCP poses to American peace and prosperity and global stability. I am grateful to SinoInsider — long may it thrive!”
Lee Smith, Author and journalist
“Your publication insights tremendously help us complete our regular analysis on in-depth issues of major importance. ”
Ms. Nicoleta Buracinschi, Embassy of Romania to the People’s Republic of China
"I’m a very happy, satisfied subscriber to your service and all the deep information it provides to increase our understanding. SinoInsider is profoundly helping to alter the public landscape when it comes to the PRC."
James Newman, Former U.S. Navy cryptologist
“Prof. Ming’s information about the Sino-U.S. trade war is invaluable for us in Taiwan’s technology industry. Our company basically acted on Prof. Ming’s predictions and enlarged our scale and enriched our product lines. That allowed us to deal capably with larger orders from China in 2019. ”
Mr. Chiu, Realtek R&D Center
“I am following China’s growing involvement in the Middle East, seeking to gain a better understanding of China itself and the impact of domestic constraints on its foreign policy. I have found SinoInsider quite helpful in expanding my knowledge and enriching my understanding of the issues at stake.”
Ehud Yaari, Lafer International Fellow, The Washington Institute
“SinoInsider’s research on the CCP examines every detail in great depth and is a very valuable reference. Foreign researchers will find SinoInsider’s research helpful in understanding what is really going on with the CCP and China. ”
Baterdene, Researcher, The National Institute for Security Studies (Mongolian)
“The forecasts of Prof. Chu-cheng Ming and the SinoInsider team are an invaluable resource in guiding our news reporting direction and anticipating the next moves of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.”
Chan Miu-ling, Radio Television Hong Kong China Team Deputy Leader
“SinoInsider always publishes interesting and provocative work on Chinese elite politics. It is very worthwhile to follow the work of SinoInsider to get their take on factional struggles in particular.”
Lee Jones, Reader in International Politics, Queen Mary University of London
“[SinoInsider has] been very useful in my class on American foreign policy because it contradicts the widely accepted argument that the U.S. should work cooperatively with China. And the whole point of the course is to expose students to conflicting approaches to contemporary major problems.”
Roy Licklider, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
“As a China-based journalist, SinoInsider is to me a very reliable source of information to understand deeply how the CCP works and learn more about the factional struggle and challenges that Xi Jinping may face. ”
Sebastien Ricci, AFP correspondent for China & Mongolia
“SinoInsider offers an interesting perspective on the Sino-U.S. trade war and North Korea. Their predictions are often accurate, which is definitely very helpful.”
Sebastien Ricci, AFP correspondent for China & Mongolia
“I have found SinoInsider to provide much greater depth and breadth of coverage with regard to developments in China. The subtlety of the descriptions of China's policy/political processes is absent from traditional media channels.”
John Lipsky, Peter G. Peterson Distinguished Scholar, Kissinger Center for Global Affairs
“My teaching at Cambridge and policy analysis for the UK audience have been informed by insights from your analyzes. ”
Dr Kun-Chin Lin, University Lecturer in Politics,
Deputy Director of the Centre for Geopolitics, Cambridge University
" SinoInsider's in-depth and nuanced analysis of Party dynamics is an excellent template to train future Sinologists with a clear understanding that what happens in the Party matters."
Stephen Nagy, Senior Associate Professor, International Christian University
“ I find Sinoinsider particularly helpful in instructing students about the complexities of Chinese politics and what elite competition means for the future of the US-China relationship.”
Howard Sanborn, Professor, Virginia Military Institute
“SinoInsider has been one of my most useful (and enjoyable) resources”
James Newman, Former U.S. Navy cryptologist
“Professor Ming and his team’s analyses of current affairs are very far-sighted and directionally accurate. In the present media environment where it is harder to distinguish between real and fake information, SinoInsider’s professional perspectives are much needed to make sense of a perilous and unpredictable world. ”
Liu Cheng-chuan, Professor Emeritus, National Chiayi University
Previous
Next