Chen Wenqing, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has recently become Secretary (head) of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
The Politburo is the CCP’s executive decision-making body, with Xi Jinping at the helm. Members of the Politburo often assume other executive positions. Collectively, they make decisions on laws and policies and are the most powerful group in Communist China. The CCP’s National People’s Congress serves as a rubber stamp legislature.
The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission is China’s chief law enforcement authority. The appointment of Chen as its head seems extraordinary since he previously served as head of the Ministry of State Security (MSS), which is the agency in charge of surveillance, intelligence, and the secret police. The MSS is also notorious for cyberespionage, surveillance of dissidents in China and abroad, and the persecution of dissidents in China. From the concentration camps for Uyghurs, to the crackdowns in Tibet and the persecution of Falun Gong, the MSS is behind the operations that oppress anyone who disagrees with or is openly critical of the CCP.
The term “state security” in China simply means maintaining the CCP’s authoritarian rule and has nothing to do with national defense.
For many years, China had a domestic security budget higher than its military budget, meaning the CCP is willing to spend whatever it costs to oppress the people and to stay in power. Many believe that Chen’s appointment marks an era of secret police rule in China, further expanding the scale of China’s domestic security operations and with the only goal of keeping the CCP in power.
On Oct. 28, the CCP’s state media reported that Chen had assumed the post of Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. He has worked in the fields of public security, state security, and prosecution.
Chen’s public resume shows that he graduated from China’s Southwest University of Political Science and Law with a law degree. After graduating in 1984 at the age of 24, Chen became a junior police officer in Leshan City, Sichuan Province. In 1994, Chen moved to the CCP’s State Security system and became deputy director of the State Security Department of Sichuan Province, in charge of intelligence and external liaison.
Beginning of the Rule by Secret Police
Chinese American current affairs commentator Chen Jinsong was surprised that Chen Wenqing became Secretary of the CCP’s Central Committee of Political and Legal Affairs as he was relatively low profile and had to jump through several ranks in his promotion. Chen said that the appointment of the CCP’s Minister of State Security as the head of the Central Committee of Political and Legal Affairs signifies the beginning of the CCP’s rule by the secret police.Chen Jinsong expressed these views during his YouTube program on Nov. 2. He also likened the CCP’s direction today to the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. After the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia in 1917, Stalin was one of the seven members of the Politburo. After the establishment of the Soviet Union, Stalin became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Chen Jinsong said that Stalin established the Committee for State Security, or KGB, in order to maintain his dictatorial rule. As a result, a large number of senior officials in the Soviet Communist Party were subsequently purged and executed.
Chen Wenqing’s former position as the Minister of State Security meant that he controls the intelligence and secret service system, which is a powerful weapon in the CCP hierarchy. He would have the ability to purge those within the CCP cadres who might be dissatisfied with Xi Jinping. In the past, Chen was involved in the so-called rectification of the CCP’s political and legal system that cleansed the system of potential threats to Xi’s rule. Essentially, Xi now has his own version of the KGB, gaining near-absolute control over the Party and the entire country.
