Association of Former Intelligence Officers 7700 Leesburg Pike, Suite 324 From AFIO's The Intelligencer Falls Church, Virginia 22043 Web: www.afio.com, E-mail: [email protected] Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Current Structure of PRC Intelligence Volume 22 • Number 1 • $15 single copy price Spring 2016 ©2016, AFIO Services There are several intelligence and security organi- zations in the PRC, some part of larger organizations. None is in charge overall. Only the ones exclusively devoted to intelligence are presented here, and the list is not exhaustive.4 Furthermore, a section inten- GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE tionally missing here regards the important area of intelligence oversight. This is because intelligence activities in China lack parliament oversight for the basic reasons that China is not a democracy (apart from direct elections at township and local level) and there are not transparent rules to how security, inter- nal and external, is ensured. Chinese Intelligence The obvious starting point is the Ministry of State Security (Guójiā Ānquánbù, 国家安全部, MSS). It is the main agency, responsible for intelligence and by Stefania Paladini, PhD state security, in charge of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence (but not military intelligence). It was established in 1983, with Ling Yun as first chief, Intelligence With Chinese Characteristics after the reform of the predecessor Central Investiga- tion Department (Diaochabu) that was established at omparing systems and concepts like the Chi- the creation of PRC in 1949 and first headed by Kang nese and the Anglo-American is challenging, Sheng and later by Li Kenong. Before that there was and intelligence studies are no exception. It no intelligence service separate from the Communist C Party, even though there were organized intelligence is even more difficult, considering that there is not a perfect translation in Chinese for the word “intel- activities since at least 1927. ligence.” In fact, the term used by the Chinese is According to the Federation of American Scien- 5 qingbao, which can be translated as “information,” as tists, the MSS is organized – unsurprisingly – on the much as “intelligence.” The Western distinction that model of the old KGB, with a First Bureau dealing with intelligence is information that has been analyzed domestic security, the Second with foreign services does not completely apply to Chinese doctrine. How- and counterintelligence. Other sections deal with ever, what is clear from Chinese terminology is the signals intelligence (SIGINT) and countersurveillance, action-enabling purpose of intelligence – expressed or focus on outer territories like Taiwan. According with the terms jihuo zhishi – “activating knowledge.”1 to some sources, the 17th Bureau is in charge of eco- Albeit this terminology-related question, China nomic intelligence, the collection of which is one of has a long tradition in this subject, and every cultivated the characteristics of Chinese services, which have Chinese, let alone politician and intelligence expert, targeted specifically the United States and European knows about Sun Zi, the scholar from 300 BC who first countries, France among them. theorized the use of intelligence, more specifically espionage, for warfare purposes.2 This article presents a brief overview of the intelli- gence organizations in the People’s Republic of China considered part of Chinese territory by the PRC Government, the first is labeled a “renegade province” and the other two go under the term (PRC) and a few notes to understand intelligence with of “one-country, two systems.” Chinese characteristics.3 4. One of the best open sources is the French intelligence service web- site: http://servicederenseignements.e-monsite.com/pages/grandes-agenc- es/republique-populaire-de-chine.html. French sources are especially 1. There is also another term used, ziliao, which refers to data, and good concerning Chinese intelligence, starting with Faligot & Remi often is put in comparison with qingbao, which generally involves an (1990), which is a recommended reading. element of secrecy. For more about this linguistic debate, see Huo 5. FAS’ own source here is: “Spy Headquarters Behind the Shrubs — & Wang, 1991, and Mattis, 2013 in the “Readings for Instructors” Supplement to `Secrets About CPC Spies’” No. 233, by Tan Po Cheng section. Ming [Hong Kong], March 1, 1997, 34-37; Cheng Ming on Chinese 2. Sun Zi is often Romanized as Sun Tzu. Spy Headquarters, FBIS-CHI-97-047, March 1, 1997. Source no longer 3. This article does not address Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macao. While retrievable. Spring 2016 Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Page 65 French sources6 in 2005 estimated the MSS had BC, devotes the last chapter to intelligence and is still around 7,000 employees, but some 50,000 undercover a most common reference about the practice and doc- operatives.7 The chief of the service, since early 2015, trine of espionage and its political uses.12 Intelligence is Geng Huichang. According to many observers, operations in Communist China started long before he is President Xi Jinping’s man and not a holder of 1949 and are linked to Kang Sheng,13 Mao Zedong’s autonomous power, as often has been the case with spymaster and a central figure in China’s foreign former chiefs. policy for decades. Among other achievements, Kang The MSS should not to be confused with the Min- Sheng played a substantial role in obtaining nuclear istry of Public Security (Gōng’ānbù, 公安部, MPS) that technology for developing a national atomic program. looks after the police bureau and internal/ordinary Another figure to be mentioned for importance security,8 but has no intelligence gathering mission.9 is the second MSS chief. Soon after the removal of its Military intelligence is the prerogative of the first chief, Lin Yun, in 1985 over the defection of Yu People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Two PLA departments Qiangsheng, head of the Counterespionage Bureau, to specifically deal with it: the US, Jia Chunwang rose to power and held tenure One is the PLA General Staff Headquarters Second until 1998; until today the longest serving MSS chief Department (Qingbaobu, 2PLA), which is more specif- and one of the most influential. Jia’s tenure was fun- ically responsible for collecting and disseminating damental in expanding the MSS’ scope and grasp of military information, via human sources (HUMINT), the MSS.14 The MSS began as a central-level ministry signals intelligence (SIGINT), and imagery intelli- with only a handful of provincial departments. By gence (IMINT). Officers are dispatched to China’s the end of Jia’s tenure, the MSS covered every prov- embassies and consulates overseas, and also to big ince, provincial-level city, and a countless number of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), banks, and municipalities. think tanks. On the other hand, the Third Department (3PLA) is in charge of the direct monitoring of foreign Chinese Methods and Approach armies and their SIGINT, and with dissemination of collected intelligence. It should be mentioned that to Intelligence Chinese SIGINT is quite impressive and is considered The methods used by Chinese intelligence often the most extensive of all Asian countries. differ from the more easily understood methods of 2PLA also has a military counterintelligence other nations. Not only does the collection of intelli- service called Chi Pao Ko,10 which exercises a degree gence present some peculiarities, as outlined below, of influence on think tanks and research institutes but Chinese methods have evolved considerably over connected with intelligence studies in China, such as the years. the China Institutes of Contemporary International In the 1950s and 1960s, every Chinese diplomatic Relations (CICIR, primarily connected to the MSS) post overseas had an Investigation and Research Office and the China Institute for International Strategic with staff from the Central Investigation Department – Studies (CIISS).11 the so-called Institute of Contemporary International There are other bodies in China performing spe- Relations. However, from Deng Xiaoping (in office cific kinds of intelligence activities, but they are less from 1981 to 1989) onward, non-intelligence per- prominent than the ones presented here. sonnel, from newsmen to businessmen to academic Worth mentioning are a couple of historical notes researchers, started to be charged with intelligence on Chinese intelligence. Sun Zi’s Art of War, the classi- collection tasks. Only a few career officers were left cal text about military strategy from the fifth century in embassies. 6. French intelligence website, accessed on March 2015. 12. ”What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike 7. In MSS slang, the often dormant, long-term operatives are called and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, “fish at the bottom of the ocean” (Chen di yu). Eftimiades, 1999, 35. is foreknowledge. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from 8. An important exception here is riot control, which is not under MPS spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any domain but is taken care of by the Chinese People’s Armed Police deductive calculation. Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only Force (中国人民武装警察部队, CAPF) at the provincial level. be obtained from other men” (Sun Zi, The Art of War, Chapter 13). 9. The two services are located near each other at 14, Dongchang’an 13. Given that this brief outline excludes Taiwan, all references to Chi- (East Chang’an Street), Beijng. ang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) and his formidable intelligence apparatus 10. Belonging to PLA Intelligence is Xiong Guangkai, considered by have been omitted. However, it is worth noting that Tai Li (Dai Li), his many the most important intelligence figure of the last two decades intelligence chief, was for many years a valid adversary to Kang Sheng. (Mulvenon, 2008). For more about Dai Li, see the recommended readings. 11. See Gates & Mulvenon, 2002 14.