Hong Kong based Sing Tao Daily reported that the Domestic Security Bureau (DSB), code-named Bureau No. 1 under China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), was renamed to “Political Security Bureau (PSB).” The name change may have to do with the Ministry’s recent priority on “maintaining political security,” and carrying out “anti-penetration, anti-subversion, and anti-secession” battles.

As early as May 2019, at a National Public Security Work Conference held in Beijing, DSB director Chen Siyuan mentioned that “defending political security” is the “primary responsibility” of public security organs. Chen said that it is necessary to have a profound understanding of the severe and complex situation of the job of maintaining political security. He ordered that activities that “endanger political security,” should be strictly prevented in order to strengthen prevention and control measures, and to detect and dissolve different political security risks in a prompt and effective manner.

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) state security authorities can be traced back to the Chinese Soviet Republic, established in Jiangxi in November 1931. At the time, the CCP borrowed the name from the Soviet Union’s State Political Directorate and set up the “State Political Bureau (SPB),” which essentially performed the same function as the Soviet counterpart. After the CCP took over China in 1949, the SPB moved under the MPS. In 1957, the MPS merged the functions of “enemy reconnaissance” and “KMT spy reconnaissance” into the “political security police.” At the same time the MPS set up a “Political Security Bureau (PSB),” code-named Bureau No. 1.

In the 1980s, the anti-spy reconnaissance function in the PSB under the MPS was transferred to the newly established Ministry of State Security (MSS). Since then, the PSB was renamed several times. In 1998, it was renamed to the current Domestic Security Bureau (DSB). Sun Lijun, the former MPS deputy minister, who was sacked not long ago, once served as the director of DSB and was succeeded by Chen Siyuan in early 2019.

Source: Central News Agency, June 3, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202006030235.aspx

The CCP has been strengthening ideological work, including ideological and political education, in schools at all levels.

On June 5, the Ministry of Education announced the introduction of “Guidelines for the Ideological and Political Development of the Higher Education Curriculum,” which will modify the contents of courses around the issues of political identity and national feelings. It proposes to include the subjects of “socialism with Chinese characteristics and education about the Chinese dream.” University students who are majoring in literature, business, education, science and engineering, agronomy, medicine, and the arts must take the course. The Ministry of Education will pick select universities to develop a teaching model first and will include the course evaluation results in the assessment of the university’s rankings in the future.

In May 2019, the Ministry of Education issued the “Training Plan for Teachers of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Colleges and Universities (2019-2023)” and clearly stated that “efforts should be made to train dozens of famous teachers in ideological and political courses that have a wide range of influence, hundreds of leaders in teaching ideology and politics, and tens of thousands of elite teachers in ideology and politics.”

In January this year, the National Textbook Committee issued the “National Textbook Development Plan for Primary and Secondary Schools (2019-2022)” and required that people who compile textbooks must have a firm political position.

Source: Central News Agency, June 5, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202006050224.aspx

Recently, a six-page internal document that the Central Committee and the State Council issued was revealed to the public. The document was dated May 20. It stipulates that there are a series of 20 political words and actions that are “not allowed” outside the working hours of the party members of the Central Committee and state organs.

Below is a partial list from the document of what is “not allowed.”

1. Expressing different opinions, especially making statements that deviate from the ‘two safeguards’ [Editor’s note: the two safeguards (两个维护) means resolutely safeguarding the core position of General Party Secretary Xi Jinping and the core position of the party; safeguarding the authority of the party and its centralized and unified leadership];
2. Making a “low level compliment or high-level praise with a manipulative or sarcastic undertone (低级红、高级黑)”;
3. Browsing reactionary websites and listening to or watching foreign reactionary radio and television programs;
4. Accepting media interviews, especially from foreign media;
5. Publishing “internal” information from work;
6. Ignoring the demands of the public using non-working hours as the excuse;
7. Forming an alumni association or a comrade’s association;
8. Disseminating speech that violates the party’s theories, guidelines, and policies;
9. Disapproving of the Central Authorities;
10. Discussing or disseminating political rumors and remarks that tarnish the image of the party and the country;
11. Forming cliques and factions within the party;
12. Becoming a two-faced person.

Source: New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), June 7, 2020
https://ntdtv.com/gb/2020/06/07/a102865262.html