Government/Politics - 56. page

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a few political and ideological advisors. They are called the “state advisors.” The Epoch Times reported on four of them. All four came from Fudan University.

Wang Huning (王沪宁), a Standing Committee Member of the Politburo, is the top advisor to Xi Jinping. He also advised the previous two CCP top leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Thus he is called the “Three Dynasties State Advisor.”

Wang was affiliated with Fudan University for 17 years, from 1978 to 1995. First he was a graduate student then a professor, followed by department chair and dean of the School of Law. He is deeply connected to Fudan University and brought a few other Fudan scholars as “state advisors” to the CCP leadership.

Zhang Weiwei (张维为), Dean of the School of China Studies, Fudan University, was invited to lecture to the Standing Committee Members of the Politburo on May 31 on the topic of “Strengthening China’s International Communication Capabilities.” The details of Zhang’s talk were not available, but he said in an interview the next day that his diplomatic stand was that the CCP is right, but the world has a “malicious misinterpretation.”

Zhang’s advice to the Standing Committee Members was clear, “When it is time to punch, then punch; when it is time to mock then mock; and when it is the time to give out a loud shouting warning then give out a loud shouting warning.”

Zhang is known for talking down about the U.S. His infamous quotes include, “China has fully reached moderate prosperity for the entire nation, but the U.S. still has 40 million people living below the poverty line.” His book “China Is Fighting the Pandemic,” claimed the COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for the world to tilt rapidly to the East while sending the West tumbling.

Another advisor is Zheng Ruolin (郑若麟), Researcher at the School of China Studies of Fudan University. Zheng frequently writes for the Shanghai Wen Hui Bao, the newspaper owned by the Shanghai Party Committee.

Zheng published articles that stated, “It is far from enough just to rely on the diplomat wolf warriors to fight the public opinion war.” Instead, media and scholars should all participate in that war. He suggested that China’s media “should assume the role of the main force” in the war of public opinion against the West. The most important thing to do is to “repeat, repeat, repeat;” and “a lie repeated a thousand times will really become the ‘truth’!”

Zheng also suggested supporting the “international friends” who speak for the CCP. “Some examples are: to purchase copyrights of their books to publish them to the world; give them China’s book awards or news awards; invite them to visit China; and hire them as professors at our universities. …”

Another advisor is Shen Yi (沈逸), Associate Professor at the Department of International Politics, Fudan University. He is known for his outlandish statements on nationalism and is popular among the people with extreme nationalist views.

On May 1, the CCP Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) published a picture titled, “China Lit Fire vs. India Lit Fire.” The picture showed on one side China’ launching a rocket and on the other side India’s burning the bodies of people who died due to the COVID-19 virus (India was at its peak of suffering from COVID at that time). Many people, including Huanqiu’s Chief Editor Hu Xijin, criticized the picture for lack of empathy. The PLAC then removed the picture. However, Shen praised the picture on the social media, calling it the normal response to India’s “sultry slutty style.” He even blamed Hu Xijin for not being tough on this point  and for issuing a surrender.

Source: The Epoch Times, July 19, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/7/19/n13099514.htm

Recently, Xi Jinping appointed Zhou Hongxu (周洪许) as the Director of the Central Security Bureau (中央警卫局). Coming from the position of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Northern Theater Army, Zhou is the first Central Security Bureau’s head appointed from outside instead of being promoted from within.

Cheng Xiaonong, an expert on China issues, wrote a lengthy article to explain the importance of the Central Security Bureau to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) top leader and how appointment of the bureau’s director works.

The Central Security Bureau is best known for its role in the political coup in 1976 after Mao Zedong died. At that time, Marshall Ye Jianying, Prime Minister Hua Guofeng, and Security Chief Wang Dongxing joined forces and ordered the guards of the Central Security Bureau to arrest the “Gang of Four,” including Mao’s wife Jiang Qing. This coupe ended the disastrous Cultural Revolution in China, and thus was praised as a heroic action.

Cheng explained the inside operation of the CCP system. There is only one ultimate TOP LEADER of the CCP system, who may or may not hold the highest official title. For example, then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping let his subordinates Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang hold the highest CCP’s position – General Secretary of the CCP.

The TOP LEADER secures his power via effectively monitoring/controlling other officials.

He uses three key units of the CCP General Office (中央办公厅) to carry out the control: the Confidential Bureau (机要局), the Health Services Bureau (保健局), and the Central Security Bureau (警卫局).

The Confidential Bureau serves confidential documents and manages the confidential phone systems. Ministers and officials above the ministerial level, have a four-digit-number confidential phone, which is called the “red phone” due to its red case. There is also a “39” phone system, since those phones have their numbers start with “39” and then five digits afterward. The “39” phones are installed at Zhongnanhai, the Great Hall of the People, the Diaoyutai Hotel, and the Yuquanshan Guest House. The Confidential Bureau monitors both the red phones and the 39 phones.

The Health Service Bureau provides personal health care to the few top CCP officials, including health checkups, daily medication, and treatment plans in case of illness. This bureau directly reports to the TOP LEADER and many times only the TOP LEADER knows the real health problem of the other officials. For example, Mao Zedong knew that his Prime Minister Zhou Enlai had cancer but didn’t tell Zhou; Mao also decided not to conduct a cancer treatment operation for Zhou.

The Central Security Bureau is responsible for the safety of the TOP LEADER. The unit also assigns personal security guards to other high-ranking officials.

Though staff members from these three units are assigned to serve individual officials, they report back to their own bureau, so their true loyalty stays within the bureau but not with the official they are serving. They are the eyes and ears of the TOP LEADER to monitor other officials’ actions.

Therefore, the head of the Central Security Bureau is very important to the TOP LEADER. When a new top leader takes power from the incumbent, he will naturally want to replace the director, but he may wait for a few years before doing it. One reason is that if he does it immediately, it shows he does not trust the incumbent leader and creates tension. The other reason is that he may need time to find someone that he can truly trust.

From 1978 to 1994, Deng Xiaoping used Yang Dezhong (杨德中) as the Director of the Central Security Bureau. Deng also took the three key units out of the CCP General Office and put them under the Central Military Commission, which he directly controlled. There are three top leadership titles in China, Deng had the title of Chairman of Central Military Commission and gave the other two, CCP General Secretary and President of China, to others.

Jiang Zemin inherited all the powers after Deng passed away. Jiang held all three big titles and moved the three units back under the CCP General Office. From 1994 to 2007Jiang installed his loyalist You Xigui (由喜贵) as the head of Central Security Bureau.

The next leader, Hu Jintao, took the top office in 2002, though Jiang still had the real power. It took Hu five years, that is, not until 2007, was he able to replace Jiang’s man You Xigui by his own person Cao Qing (曹清).

When Xi Jinping took over in 2012, Xi kept Cao to show his respect and trust to Hu. After more than two years, Xi was ready to replace Cao. He disclosed the information to the New York Times and the BBC that the Central Security Bureau used his “air force one” to smuggle ivory from Africa, and then used that excuse to move Cao out. Xi promoted Wang Shaojun (王少军) to the Director position from 2015 to 2019.

In 2018, Xi appointed Chen Denglv (陈登铝) as the Deputy Director and Political Commissar of the Central Security Bureau. Chen was an outsider appointee, coming from the position of the Political Commissar of the 91st Division of the 31st Group Army in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. Xi worked in Fujian from 1985 to 2002 and the 31^st Group Army is considered Xi’s loyalist army. Chen ran the Central Security Bureau from his Deputy Director position after Director Wang left. The director position was vacant from 2019 until the recent  appointment of Zhou Hongxu.

Xi’s appointing outsiders as both the Director and Deputy Director of the Central Security Bureau had two risks: One, the bureau’s internal officials might see little hope for promotion. Two, the bureau’s current staff might worry whether Xi would get more outsiders to replace them. These do not help Xi to control the Central Security Bureau so that he can monitor other officials.

Despite these risks, Xi still chose outsiders rather than an internal promotion. This indicates that the officials of the Central Security Bureau might have been involved in CCP in-fighting, that CCP in-fighting is active, and that Xi is worried about the Central Security Bureau’s loyalty to him.

Source:  Epoch Times, July 17, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/7/17/n13095911.htm