The minister of state security is a
Chinese government position within the
Constituent Departments of the State Council which functions as the head of the
Ministry of State Security. The position reports directly to the head of the
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission
The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (中央政法委, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Commu ...
(CPLC) of the
Chinese Communist Party. Within the State Council, the position is ninth in
order of precedence. All ministers of state security have held the position as
civilians, they are each awarded the
police rank of
Commissioner General.
Like the minister of public security, the minister holds the police badge identification number 000001.
History
The position of minister of state security was established in 1983 with the creation of the ministry following the combination of
counterintelligence functions of the
Ministry of Public Security with the Central Investigation Department.
Several ministers of state security have gone on to serve in other senior cabinet posts, including minister of public security.
Jia Chunwang further advanced to Procurator–General of the
Supreme People's Procuratorate, a position roughly equivalent to
attorney general
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
. In 2022,
Chen Wenqing became the first outgoing minister of state security to be promoted directly to leader of the CPLC, whose oversight portfolio includes the MSS, while incoming minister
Chen Yixin
Chen Yixin (; born 1 September 1959) is a Chinese Communist Party politician who is the current Minister of State Security and the secretary-general of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
Early life and education
Chen was bor ...
became dual hatted, retained his previous position as the third rank position of Secretary-General of the CPLC, in addition to leading the MSS.
Selection
Officially, the minister is nominated by the
premier of the State Council, who is then approved by the
National People's Congress or its
Standing Committee and appointed by the
president.
In practice, the minister is chosen within the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. New ministers of state security are selected periodically, with recent ministers each being formally elected to the
CCP Central Committee during iterations of the
CCP National Congress held every five years, though such decisions are normally made in secret at the
Beidaihe meeting held each August in
Beidaihe,
Hebei to litigate and preplan the upcoming years decisions.
List of ministers
References
{{MSS, state=expanded
Political office-holders in China
Ministers of State Security of the People's Republic of China