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Leadership: China’s Secret Service Is Monitoring Top Leader of Each Party and Government Organ

Radio Free Asia reported that, after the taking down of Sun Lijun, the Deputy Minister of Public Security, Xi Jinping’s followers held three emergency meetings: an emergency meeting of the Ministry of Public Security on April 20, an emergency meeting of the Secret Service Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security on April 21, and an emergency meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Political and Legal Affairs Commission on April 22.

At the Secret Service Bureau’s meeting, Wang Xiaohong, Executive Deputy Minister of Public Security and Director of the Secret Service Bureau stated, “(We) must increase the monitoring of the ‘top leaders’ decision-making power, staff appointment power, and financial approval power, to let the ‘top leaders’ get used to working and living under monitoring.”

The Secret Service Bureau, when established in May of last year, was designed to provide security protection for “Four ‘Deputies’ and Two ‘Supremes’” – the Vice President, the Deputy Prime Ministers, the Vice Chairmen of the National People’s Congress, the Vice Chairmen of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the President of the Supreme Court, and the President of the Supreme Procuratorate.

The four number-one persons (President, Premier, Chairman of the National People’s Congress, and Chairman of the CPPCC) are members of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee. The Central Security Bureau provides the security protection for all seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee and for retired top CCP leaders.

However, Wang Xiaohong’s mentioning of the ‘top leader’ might indicate that the Secret Service Bureau has been expanded to monitor the head of each of the CCP Central Committee’s organs and the head of national, ministerial, and provincial governments, such as Provincial Party Secretaries, Ministers, and Ministerial Party Secretaries, etc.

At the emergency meeting, Wang also hinted that it was the Secret Service Bureau that arrested Sun Lijun.

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World Against the CCP: A Survey Showed 82 Percent of Chinese Netizens Chose to Support the U.S.

On April 3, a Chinese language media New Highland Vision conducted an online survey, with the question: “If the United States wanted to take down the communist regime in China, in case of a war, would you support the American army or the communist army?” It asked only Chinese to take the survey. 81.8 percent of people chose to support the U.S.; 7.7 percent chose to support the communist regime; and 10.5 percent chose to be neutral.

Previously, New Highland Vision had also done another survey of Chinese readers: “After the pandemic, the U.S. will for sure ask China to pay for damages, but China does not have money to pay for them. If the Chinese government proposes to give up certain land as the compensation, do you want to give your homeland to the U.S.?” 84.1 percent of Chinese readers chose Yes; 10.9 percent chose No; and 4.9 percent chose “hard to say.”

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World Against the CCP: Survey Showed Two-Thirds of Americans View CCP Negatively

#1: Recently, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of Americans on their opinion of China. The results showed that 66 percent of people have negative views, including 62 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 72 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. 26 percent of people report a favorable attitude. This is the highest percentage of negative views recorded since the Pew Research Center began asking the question in 2005.

About nine-in-ten U.S. adults see China’s power and influence as a threat – including 62 percent who say it is a major threat. While the total portion that sees China’s power and influence as a threat has not changed significantly since the question was last asked in 2018, the share perceiving China as a major threat has increased 14 percentage points since 2018. (Pew Research)

#2: Between April 3 and April 5, the Harris Poll conducted a survey online of 1,993 people around the U.S. Only 23 percent of those people surveyed said that Xi Jinping was a trustworthy source of information related to the covid-19 outbreak, with Republicans and Democrats sharing the same view. The White House and the U.S. media rated 53 and 60 percent in trustworthiness, respectively, with Republicans tending to support the former and Democrats the latter.

Ninety percent of Republicans said the Chinese government is responsible for the spread of the virus, compared to 67 percent of Democrats.

While 71 percent of Republicans responded that China should pay other countries in some way for the damage done because of the outbreak, only 41 percent of Democrats felt that way.

A firm majority of Republicans, 66 percent, said Trump should take an even tougher position on China than he currently does. Among Democrats, 38 percent said Trump should be tougher, 23 percent said he should be softer and 38 percent said he has it about right. (Washington Post)

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1. Source: Pew Research, April 21, 2020

U.S. Views of China Increasingly Negative Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

2. Source: Washington Post, April 8, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/08/coronavirus-crisis-is-turning-americans-both-parties-against-china/

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Leadership: Xi Jinping Visited Qinling

From April 20 to April 23, Xi Jinping visited Shaanxi Province. One of his stops was Qinling (also called the Qin Mountains), a major east-west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province. Several overseas Chinese media gave an analysis of why Xi went to Qinling. The New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) gave the most in-depth explanation, including three possible reasons:

1. Qinling was considered the Dragon Vein (龙脉) of the Chinese civilization. Dragon Vein is a Fengshui term. It can impact the prosperity of the current ruler. Damages to or suppression of the Dragon Vein can hurt the ruler. Though Xi is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which promotes atheism, Xi himself still believes in certain Fengshui and traditional Chinese culture. Shaanxi and Qinling have brought blessings to Xi Jinping and his father. Xi’s father started his CCP official career in Shaanxi and Xi stayed at Xi’an, Shaanxi for seven years.

Unfortunately, in the past decade, officials in Shaanxi Province built many luxury villas on Qinling which could be viewed as damaging or suppressing the Dragon Vein. Despite Xi having given instructions six times to demolish those illegal buildings, the local officials took no action. It was not until July 2018, when Xi sent Xu Lingyi, Deputy Secretary of the CCP Central Commission on Disciplinary Inspection, to Shaanxi that many officials in Shaanxi were taken down and those villas were demolished.

2. Giving the ongoing infighting among the party leaders, Xi may want to use the Qinling villa story to remind others that he was able to take down those who did not follow his orders.

3. Xi mentioned “the spirit of westward migration” at Shaanxi. He could hint that he can retreat to Shaanxi if he can no longer control Beijing. He may have taken this trip to check and see if everything was ready should he retreat.

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Infection Count: Coronavirus Epidemic Situation at Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Yunnan

#1: Heilongjiang Province:

The Epoch Times obtained a copy of the “Report of People with Positive Serum Antibody Tests” dated April 10, from the Daowai District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. The report showed that the Daowai District Coronavirus Epidemic Prevention and Control Center reported on that day that 34 people had their serum antibody test positive for the coronavirus. Among them, 30 were newly infected cases and 4 could be confirmed patients from a while ago.

However, the government reported on April 10, only 1 confirmed case and a total of 2 accumulated confirmed cases and 4 asymptomatic carriers. (Epoch Times)

#2: Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (AR):

The Epoch Times obtained a document from the Customs office of Manzhouli City, Inner Mongolia. The document said that, on April 11, among the 124 testing samples of people entering the city from abroad, 32, or 25.8 percent, tested positive for the coronavirus. On April 9, 23 out of 67 testing samples tested positive and on April 8, 10 out of 111 people tested positive.

The Epoch Times also obtained the “Epidemic Report” from the Inner Mongolia AR Comprehensive Diseases Prevention and Control Center, dated April 13, which showed the severe threat of black death. The report said that since the first black death case was identified on March 15, 2020, 21 sites in four Leagues (an administrative region under the Inner Mongolia AR, similar to Prefectures in the other provinces of China) have reported black death cases. Inner Mongolia has 12 Leagues. (Epoch Times)

#3: Yunnan Province:

Beijing sent a Central Government Supervisory Group to Yunnan Province recently, with Sun Chunlan, the Vice Premier, being the head of the supervisory group. The Yunnan provincial government held a meeting on April 22, defining the main focus of the upcoming work as: “Prepare for the worst case scenario, do well on supply material management, medical treatment, and medical aid to foreign countries; resolutely manage people, manage villages, manage each path, manage peoples’ id cards, and manage the southern border.” (People’s Daily)

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Accountability: Australian Foreign Minister Rejected China’s “Economic Coercion” and Defended Australia’s Call for Investigating Virus Origin in China

#1: On April 22, Australian Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, at a virtual meeting of Agriculture Ministers of the G20, called for international experts to investigate the coronavirus origin and the wild animal markets in China which China said was the source of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week scolded the World Health Organization (WHO) for supporting the reopening of China’s wet markets, saying it was ‘unfathomable’ to back live animal markets. (Daily Mail)

#2: On April 26, the Australian Financial Review published its interview with the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye. Cheng threatened Australia with economic impact, where China is the largest consumer of the education and tourism services that Australia offers.

“The Chinese public is frustrated, dismayed and disappointed with what Australia is doing now.”

“I think in the long term… if the mood is going from bad to worse, people would think ‘Why should we go to such a country that is not so friendly to China? The tourists may have second thoughts.

“The parents of the students would also think whether this place which they found is not so friendly, even hostile, whether this is the best place to send their kids here.

“It is up to the people to decide. Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?'” (The Australian Financial Review)

#3: On April 27, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne rejected China’s attempted “economic coercion” against Australia. Payne said in a statement that Australia had made a “principled call” for an independent review of the COVID-19 outbreak which started in Wuhan. “We reject any suggestion that economic coercion is an appropriate response to a call for such an assessment, when what we need is global cooperation.” (Reuters)

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1. Source: Daily Mail, April 22, 2020
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8245763/Australia-calls-probe-Chinas-wet-markets-Scott-Morrison-speaks-Donald-Trump.html

2. Source: The Australian Financial Review, April 26, 2020
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/china-consumer-backlash-looms-over-morrison-s-coronavirus-probe-20200423-p54mpl

3. Source: Reuters, April 27, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia-china/australia-rejects-chinese-economic-coercion-threat-amid-planned-coronavirus-probe-idUSKCN2290Z6

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Leadership: Fu Zhenghua Removed from the Deputy Party Secretary Position in the Ministry of Justice

After Sun Lijun, Deputy Minister of Public Security, was taken down, Fu Zhenghua, another high ranking official on the public security team was also removed from the Deputy Party Secretary position of the Ministry of Justice.

Fu was the Deputy Party Secretary and Executive Deputy Minister of Public Security and the previous head of the “610 Office” (in charge of persecuting Falun Gong). He was appointed as the Minister of Justice in 2018. Following the CCP tradition, he also held the Deputy Party Secretary position of the Ministry of Justice. The common interpretation of moving him out of the Ministry of Public Security at that time was to make it easier to investigate his problems at the Ministry of Public Security.

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Leadership: Chinese Media’s Discussions on the Downfall of Deputy Minister of Public Security Sun Lijun

On April 19, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Commission on Disciplinary Inspection (CCDI) announced that it was investigating Sun Lijun (孙力军), Deputy Minister of Public Security, who “has severely violated the party’s discipline and the law.”

It was surprising to many people as Sun was known as a powerful official who had been involved in many arrests of dissidents and who was sent to Wuhan to oversee the police during the coronavirus outbreak. The following are discussions from Chinese media about his downfall.

#1: Sun Is Not Loyal to Xi Jinping

Zhao Kejian, Minister of Public Security held an emergency meeting on April 19, stating “resolutely support the investigation of Sun Lijun.” Zhao said, “Sun Lijun has long been ignoring the party’s political discipline and political rules, violating the discipline, violating the rules, disrespecting (the leader), and doing things on his own will.” This suggests that Sun is not loyal enough to Xi Jinping. (Radio France International)

#2: Sun’s Position Is Too Critical for Political Infighting

Sun is in charge of the No 1 Bureau and No 26 Bureau in the Ministry of Public Security. The No 1 Bureau is the Political Security Bureau, responsible for intelligence gathering, including the control of religion, anti-subversion, and overseas resources (pro-China organizations, spies, etc.). Sun is also the Director of the Public Security Ministry’s Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs Office. Xi Jinping’s cronies in Hong Kong were not able to direct the ministry’s spies in Hong Kong since they took directions from Sun.

Sun was in such a critical position that his support could determine if a political coup would succeed. Sun was in the camp of former CCP head Jiang Zemin and was against Xi. Sun’s downfall means that Xi has the recent political infighting under control. (Epoch Times)

#3: Sun Was Sent to Wuhan So That Wang Xiaohong Could Take over His Work

An insider pointed out that the taking down of Sun Lijun was well planned out. Sun was sent to Wuhan to oversee the police there during the coronavirus outbreak, to get him out of Beijing. Then Xi Jinping appointed his follower Wang Xiaohong to be the Party Secretary and Director of the Special Service Bureau, Ministry of Public Security, to take over the work from Sun.

There was also a guess that Sun might have leaked secrets about Xi’s visit to Wuhan, such as Xi’s snipers aimed at Wuhan police officers as they were afraid that Wuhan police might attempt to assassinate Xi. (Radio Free Asia)

#4: Sun Has Been Involved in Many Arrests

Xi has long been managing secret works of the Public Security Ministry. He was the Deputy Director of the “610 Office,” which was in charge of persecuting Falun Gong. He also directed the execution of arrests and the interrogation of political dissidents. Guo Wengui, a Chinese real estate billionaire who fled to the U.S. and became a political activist against the CCP, stated that Sun came to the U.S. in May 2017 to try to persuade him to return to China, but he rejected Sun’s suggestion. Sun was also said to be behind the arrest of the owner and the staff of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books (a book store that published books revealing shady information about the CCP’s top leaders) and the massive arrests of human rights attorneys on July 9, 2015. (Radio Free Asia)

#5: Sun Has Damaged Xi Jinping’s Image

A political commentator said that Sun’s arrests of political dissidents had damaged the CCP’s image and made Xi Jinping look bad. Sun also ordered other people to do things, claiming that he received orders from Xi Jinping’s Office or Peng Liyuan’s Office (Peng is Xi’s wife). (Radio France International)

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