Ministry of Public Security (China)

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS, Chinese: 公安部; pinyin: Gōng'ānbù) is the primary law enforcement agency of the People's Republic of China. It oversees more than 1.9 million of the country's law enforcement officers and as such the vast majority of the People's Police. While the MPS is a nationwide police force, conducting counterintelligence and maintaining the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are also core functions.

The ministry employs a system of public security bureaus throughout the provinces, cities, municipalities and townships of China. The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau maintain separate police forces. The ministry is headed by the minister of public security. Wang Xiaohong has been the minister in charge since June 2022.

The Ministry of Public Security was among the first government organs established in the PRC. It superseded the Ministry of Public Security of the CCP's Central Military Commission (CMC), a transitional body created in July 1949 by removing the security service remit from the CCP's Central Social Affairs Department (SAD). The MPS began operations on 1 November 1949, at the end of a two-week-long National Conference of Senior Public Security Cadres. Most of its initial staff of less than 500 cadres came from the (former) regional CCP North China Department of Social Affairs. At the national level, its creation signaled the formal abolition of the SAD. The ministry moved to its present location, in the heart of the one-time foreign legation quarters in Beijing, in the spring of 1950.

The Ministry of Public Security of the Central People's Government was formed in 1954. Grand General Luo Ruiqing of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) served as its first minister. As the ministry's organization was based on Soviet and Eastern Bloc models, it was responsible for all aspects of national security; ranging from regular police work to intelligence, counterintelligence and the suppression of anti-CCP political and social sentiments. Military intelligence affairs remained with the General Staff Department, while the CCP's International Department was active in fomenting revolutionary tendencies worldwide by funneling weapons, money and resources into various pro-CCP movements.

In May 2016, the MPS with Alibaba Group launched a child abduction alert system, using applications such Weibo and Gaode Maps.

Prior to 2018, the MPS was also in charge of Ministry of Public Security Firefighting Bureau [zh], who was in charge of firefighting duties around China, including the MPSASF's China Fire Services [zh] and volunteer firefighters.

Following the creation of the People's Armed Police in 1982, Border Defense, Guards and Firefighting personnel of the MPS were turned into PAP personnel, with these 3 agencies being known as Ministry of Public Security Active Service Forces.

In 2018, all 3 MPSASF agencies were disbanded. Guard Corps and Border Defense personnel were converted into People's Police personnel, with Border Defense Personnel being handed over to the National Immigration Administration and Guard Corps Personnel becoming part of the Ministry of Public Security Special Service Bureau [zh]. China Fire Services were turned into the National Fire and Rescue Administration under the Ministry of Emergency Management, ending the MPS's command of firefighting forces since 1949.