Xi directly grip China's security apparatus

 

At the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, that begins Sunday, the Communist Party's No. 2 Li Qiang is expected to become premier. While many will be watching what policies he will adopt to boost the economy, his most important political mission could be the reform of party and state institutions.
 
Specifically, he will spearhead a set of measures that reduces the power of the State Council, China's government, and transfer them to the party's Central Committee, which President Xi Jinping controls.
 
This includes a reshuffle of the internal security apparatus. Hong Kong media have reported that the Ministry of Public Security, which supervises the police, and the Ministry of State Security, in charge of hunting down spies, will be separated from the State Council and placed under the party.
 
There was a time when Zhou Yongkang, the former boss of China's internal security organs, was so powerful that even the country's top leader, then-President Hu Jintao, was unable to directly intervene in public security and police matters. Xi is determined to change that.
 
 

The sense of urgency comes from the "white paper" and "white hair" movements. The white paper protests were young people opposing the government's zero-COVID policy. The white hair movement was a massive demonstration by senior citizens opposing the reduction of benefits. Both exposed pent up public frustrations.
 
If similar movements spring up in the future, they could pose unprecedented threats to the communist regime. The strengthening of the security apparatus is the result of such fears.