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Ministry of Public Security (China)

Chinese government security body

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Through China and Soviet Union

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. Military intelligence affairs remained with the General Staff Department. Most of its counterintelligence responsibilities were taken over by the Ministry of State Security with its creation in 1983. The Ministry previously held joint command over the People's Armed Police together with the Central Military Commission; in 2018, the PAP's command was placed solely under the CMC.

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. It 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 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

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 It superseded the Ministry of Public Security of the CCP's Central Military Commission (CMC), a transitional body created in July 1949 by removing the security service remit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 of the Central People's Government began operations on November 1, 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.

The Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China was formed in 1954. Grand General Luo Ruiqing of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) served as its first minister. 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.

In May 2016, the MPS with Alibaba Group launched a child abduction alert system, using applications such Weibo and Gaode Maps.

Prior to 2018, the MPS was also in charge of Ministry of Public Security Firefighting Bureau, who was in charge of firefighting duties around China, including the MPSASF's China Fire Services and volunteer firefighters. Following the creation of the People's Armed Police in 1982, Border Defense, Guards and Firefighting personnel of the MPS were turned into PAP personnel, with these 3 agencies being known as Ministry of Public Security Active Service Forces.

In 2018, all 3 MPSASF agencies were disbanded. Guard Corps and Border Defense personnel were converted into People's Police personnel, with Border Defense Personnel being handed over to the National Immigration Administration and Guard Corps Personnel becoming part of the Ministry of Public Security Special Service Bureau. China Fire Services were turned into the National Fire and Rescue Administration under the Ministry of Emergency Management, ending the MPS's command of firefighting forces since 1949.

Counterintelligence

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

With the creation of the Ministry of State Security (MSS) in July 1983, MPS lost much of its counterintelligence personnel and remit. 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." 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." The MPS remains a commonly used cover by MSS officers.

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

The MPS and its officers have been active abroad in Operation Fox Hunt and Operation Sky Net. 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.

Foreign relations

MPS has at times been involved in security diplomacy between China and other countries. For example, between 1997 and 2020, it organized 11 bilateral police diplomacy meetings with African countries. From 2006 to 2026, the MPS has signed more than 205 policing and security cooperation agreements with as many as 74 countries, as well as Taiwan. Among these agreements, 170 are bilateral, signed with 61 countries. Under Xi Jinping's general secretaryship, the MPS has increased its training of police officers from other countries. From 2006 to 2026, it has provided police training to 138 countries.

In 2017, Europol signed a "strategic cooperation agreement" with the MPS. Starting in 2019, the MPS began replacing "domestic security" with "political security" in the names of its units. 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 persecution of Uyghurs in China. The institute was removed from the list in 2023 as part of an agreement during the APEC United States 2023 to combat fentanyl trafficking.

In 2022, media outlets reported that the MPS had established numerous overseas police service stations, prompting investigations by law enforcement agencies in multiple countries. 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". It charged 34 MPS officers with using fake social media accounts to harass overseas dissidents. In 2026, French authorities announced that counterintelligence services had dismantled nine clandestine Chinese police stations operated under the direction of the MPS and used to monitor the Chinese dissidents.

Cyber activities

MPS oversees a tiered system of security requirements for information systems. Since September 2021, MPS has been tasked with overseeing and supervising the protection of critical information infrastructure in China. MPS, along with the Ministry of State Security, are required to vet the personnel of state-mandated cybersecurity teams for the country's critical internet infrastructure.

Disinformation operations on Western social media by a group known as Spamouflage or "Dragonbridge" have been linked to the MPS. In February 2024, files from I-Soon, an MPS contractor used for hacking, were leaked publicly. 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.

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