Zhou Yongkang (born December 1942) was a senior leader in the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served on the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), and the head of the Central Political and Legislative Committee between 2007 and 2012. In that position Zhou oversaw China's security forces and law enforcement institutions.
| Zhou Yongkang 周永康 |
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| 6th Secretary of the CPC Central Political and Legislative Committee | |
| In office 22 October 2007 – 21 November 2012 |
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| Deputy | Wang Lequan Meng Jianzhu |
| General Secretary | Hu Jintao |
| Preceded by | Luo Gan |
| Succeeded by | Meng Jianzhu |
| Member of the 17th CPC Politburo Standing Committee | |
| In office 22 October 2007 – 15 November 2012 |
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| General Secretary | Hu Jintao |
| Minister of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China | |
| In office December 2002 – October 2007 |
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| Premier | Wen Jiabao |
| Preceded by | Jia Chunwang |
| Succeeded by | Meng Jianzhu |
| Member of the National People's Congress |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 March 1998 |
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| Constituency | Sichuan At-large (98-08) Heilongjiang At-large (08-) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 1942 (age 70) Wuxi, Jiangsu, Republic of China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party |
| Zhou Yongkang | |||||||
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| Chinese | 周永康 | ||||||
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Zhou Yongkang (born December 1942) was a senior leader in the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served on the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), and the head of the Central Political and Legislative Committee between 2007 and 2012. In that position Zhou oversaw China's security forces and law enforcement institutions.
Zhou was a State Councillor until March 2008 and is a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He was mayor of Panjin in Liaoning province from 1983 until 1985, and served as the Minister of Public Security of the People's Republic of China from 2002 to 2007. He retired at the 18th Party Congress in 2012.
Biography[edit]
Born in December 1942, Zhou Yongkang is a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu province. In November 1964 Zhou joined the CPC and joined geological survey work in north-east China in 1966 after the Cultural Revolution broke out.[1] He graduated from the Survey and Exploration Department of Beijing Petroleum Institute majoring in geophysical survey and exploration. As a university graduate he holds the title Senior Engineer with a rank equivalent to that of Professor.[2]
During the 1960s and 70s he spent most of his career in the petroleum industry. By the mid-1980s he was vice minister of the Petroleum Industry, and from 1996 General Manager of the China National Petroleum Corporation, China’s largest energy company.[1][3] In 1998 he was Minister of Land and Resources and in 1999, secretary of the Communist Party of China Sichuan Provincial Committee. During his tenure as Minister of Public Security, he was a reformer of China's policing system, aiming to create a more professional police force, even going as far as to fire several hundred police officers for drinking problems.[4] His time in Sichuan and as Public Security Minister made him noticed by the party's central authority, and in 2007 he was transferred to fill the vacancy from Luo Gan, who retired in the party's political and legislative affairs committee, and was responsible for China’s courts, police, paramilitary and various domestic state security and spying agencies.[1] As a result, even though he is ranked last in the PSC's hierarchy, it is not an indication of his actual power.[citation needed]
Several leaked U.S. diplomatic cables from Wikileaks have alleged Zhou's involvement in Beijing's cyber attack against Google,[5] though the claim's veracity has been questioned.[5] Other cables said it was "well-known" that Zhou Yongkang controlled the state monopoly of the oil sector.[6]
In May 2012 the Financial Times reported that Zhou had relinquished the operational control of the party's Political and Legal Affairs Commission to Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu due to his support for former Chinese politician Bo Xilai, and had lost his right to select his successor when he retires from the Politburo Standing Committee in fall 2012.[7] The New York Times later reported that Zhou's status remained unchanged.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Jamil Anderlini (20.4.2012). "Bo fallout threatens China’s security chief". Financial Times.
- ^ Biography of Zhou Yongkang. China Vitae (22 November 2010). Retrieved on 30 March 2012.
- ^ Hu Jintao, Hu Jin Tao, China who's who, who's who in china, China's Celebrities, Famous Chinese. China Today. Retrieved on 30 March 2012.
- ^ BBC: China's New Leaders. BBC News. Retrieved on 30 March 2012.
- ^ a b Glanz, James (4 December 2010). "China's Battle with Google: Vast Hacking by a China Fearful of the Web". New York Times. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
- ^ Foster, Peter (6 December 2010). "WikiLeaks: China's Politburo a cabal of business empires". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
- ^ "Bo ally gives up China security roles", Jamil Anderlini, Financial Times, 14 May 2012.
- ^ "China Security Chief Seems to Keep His Hold on Power", Edward Wong, The New York Times, 19 May 2012.
External links[edit]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Xie Shijie |
CPC Sichuan Committee Secretary 1999–2002 |
Succeeded by Zhang Xuezhong |
| Preceded by Luo Gan |
Secretary of CPC Central Political and Legislative Committee 2007-2012 |
Succeeded by Meng Jianzhu |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Position created |
Minister of Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China 1998–1999 |
Succeeded by Tian Fengshan |
| Preceded by Jia Chunwang |
Minister of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China 2002–2007 |
Succeeded by Meng Jianzhu |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by He Guoqiang Discipline Secretary |
9th Rank of the Communist Party of China 17th Politburo Standing Committee |
Succeeded by none |
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