Zhao Kezhi (; born 28 December 1953) is a Chinese politician who currently serves as a State Councilor of the People’s Republic of China and the former Minister and

Party Committee Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

of the Ministry of Public Security, with the top police officer rank of Police Commissioner General. He is the former

Communist Party Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

and

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

provinces, and the former Governor of Guizhou province. He had also previously served as a vice governor of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

and

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

provinces.

Career

Zhao was born in

Laixi Laixi () is a county-level city of Qingdao sub-provincial city, Shandong Province, China. Laixi is known as "Qingdao's Back Garden". , its neighbor to the north; however, Laixi is now the northernmost county-level division of Qingdao and Lai ...

province. Zhao Kezhi entered the workforce in March 1973 as a middle school teacher in Laixi, and joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

in January 1975. In April 1984, he became the mayor and deputy Communist Party Chief of Laixi County, was transferred in March 1987 to be the mayor and deputy party chief of nearby

Jimo Jimo District (), formerly Jimo City (), is a District of Qingdao, Shandong. Location Jimo is located in the southwest of the Shandong Peninsula, bordered by the Yellow Sea on the east and Mount Lao on the south. Climate Jimo has a moderate ...

, and became party chief of Jimo in 1989. In December 1997, he was promoted to be the party chief of

Dezhou Dezhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the southeast, Liaocheng to the southwest, Binzhou to the northeast, and the province of Hebei t ...

, a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China' ...

in Shandong. From February 2001 to March 2006, he was a vice governor of Shandong province. In 2006, Zhao Kezhi was transferred to neighbouring

province, where he was the executive vice governor until August 2010, when he was transferred again to southwestern

province, where he was appointed deputy party chief and acting governor. A month later he was elected by the Guizhou Provincial Congress as governor. In July 2012 Zhao was promoted to concurrently serve as the Communist Party Secretary of Guizhou; in December he relinquished his governor post, and Chen Min'er was chosen as his successor. In July 2015, following the dismissal of

Zhou Benshun Zhou Benshun (; born February 1953) is a former Chinese politician. Between 2013 and 2015, he served as the Communist Party Secretary and the top official of Hebei Province. Prior to his post in Hebei, Zhou Benshun was the Secretary-General of t ...

, Zhao was named party chief of

province. During his term in Hebei, planning began for the ambitious

Xiong'an New Area Xiong'an New Area () is a state-level new area in the Baoding area of Hebei, China. Established in April 2017, the area is located about 100 km southwest of Beijing and 50 km east of downtown Baoding. Its main function is to serve as ...

. In October 2017, shortly after the 19th Party Congress, Zhao, then 63, was appointed as the Party Committee Secretary of the Ministry of Public Security. He was appointed as the Minister of Public Security on November 4, 2017. In March 2018, Zhao was appointed as a

State Councilor A state councillor () is a high-ranking position within the State Council, the executive organ of the Chinese government (comparable to a cabinet). It ranks immediately below the Vice-Premiers and above the ministers of various departments. Si ...

. In June 2018, he became Deputy Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. Zhao is a member of the

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

and 19th Central Committees of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Kezhi Living people 1953 births State councillors of China Ministers of Public Security of the People's Republic of China Governors of Guizhou Political office-holders in Shandong Political office-holders in Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shandong People's Republic of China politicians from Shandong Politicians from Qingdao Vice-governors of Shandong Vice-governors of Jiangsu Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party