M, VM BD BDD MA° Gov PLA Unk Total
Minister and Vice Ministers
4 4
Bureau Director and Deputies
3 1 3 7
While the backgrounds of three are not known, it is evident that most of
I
the officials have been in the Ministry over a long period. One of these has become prominent in a Military Region, while one former Vice Minister commands the Nanking Military Region. There are connections between the
10
ministry and regional commands and with service commands.
7 ||
Competition conceivably might be coming from Hsu Shih-yu and Ch'en Hsi-lien both on the Politburo and respectively commanders of the Nanking and Shenyang Military Regions. Li Teh-sheng an alternate member of the Politburo and head of the PLA Political Department is another possible contender. Unlike Yeh, these three have significant military power bases. Yeh given this may be an interim 'minister' while the others gather forces for a possible political showdown.
g
Where 'MA' is Military Attache. 9
P'an Chen-wu.
Leaving aside Lin Piao, all three vice ministers are members of the Central Committee, and the seven pre Cultural Revolution vice ministers were at least alternate members of the 8th Central Committee.
Age data is available for all three vice ministers, the average in 1973 being 67, compared with 59 for the seven in 1966. The increased age of members of the group may be the reason for the decline of Su Yil's
11 1
;
activity, and for the sudden cessation of Vang Shu-sheng's activities. The only case of a wife being active in the Ministry is that of Yeh Ch'iin, Lin’s wife who was said to be the director of his office. In any
1 3
case, since Lin’s demise Yeh has not been seen in public. The wives of the vice ministers have not appeared since 1968, while the wife of a director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau has appeared on rare occasions when protocol demanded.
In conclusion the few officials thus far identified are in the main veteran cadres, while the structure of the Ministry would appear to be unchanged. The vice ministers represent an ageing, though expert body well experienced in military affairs.
Ministry of Public Security (i ) Organisation
Little is known of this Ministry's internal departments. Since 1968 only the Foreign Dignitaries Department has been identified. Before the Cultural Revolution, two others had been identified: Organisation and
Su was born in 1909.
12
Vang, born 1905 last appeared 29/3/73.
13
Yeh was said to have been killed with Lin in a 'plane crash over Mongolia in September 1971. She last appeared in public 11/7/71.
Education as well as the Political Department. There has been no mention of these two by NONA since the Cultural Revolution.
The Ministry has probably taken over the functions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Three reasons support this contention. First, the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Tseng Shan, when he died in April
1 5
1972 was identified as a former Minister of Internal Affairs; he was 16
last identified as Minister in October 1969. As no further mention had been made of this Ministry since that date it is probably too simplistic to suggest that Tseng had been eased out. Second, a former PLA
representative in the Internal Affairs Ministry was recently appointed a 17
Vice Minister of Public Security. Finally it seems that a former Vice Minister of Internal Affairs has been transferred to the Public Security
18
Ministry. If the merger has taken place, the new ministry probably has taken over the conduct of rural relief work, the only department identified before the Cultural Revolution under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Public Security Ministry like many other State Council organs 19
has a cadre school, though more precise details are not known. (ii) Activities
The Ministry's basic responsibility is the maintenance of public order which it exercises through its police forces both public and secret.
See U.S. Government Publications, Directory of Chinese Communist
Officials, A 73-12, August 1972, p.335. The department was identified in February 1972.
15 NCNA 20/4/72. 16 NCNA 6/10/69.
^ Shih Yi-chih was appointed in May 1973. NCNA 24/5/73. 18
Huang Ch'ing-hsi has been listed with Vice Ministers of Public Security. See for instance the report of Hsieh Fu-chih's funeral. NCNA 29/3/72.
1 9
NCNA 15/2/70. 'Go out from the School and Temper Yourselves in the Class Struggle'.
In this responsibility, it is linked with the Supreme People's Court, the Military Court (which has not been mentioned since 1968), and the
Procuracy. The operations of these last three organisations have
probably been severely curtailed since 1968, as their officials make rare appearances and nothing of their activities are made public through
official sources. It is probable that the military and this Ministry 20
have taken over the lower level courts.
Articles and broadcasts at times have devoted space to lauding the exemplary conduct of provincial and county public security bureaux and their officers, though nothing has been said of their relationship to
21
the Centre, or its influence over lower levels of police administration, (iii) Personnel
The table below indicates the political fortunes of the ministerial personnel of the pre Cultural Revolution regime after 1966.
TABLE 24
Role in Role Status
Name Disapp. Same Min. Elsewhere Uncertain Died
Hsieh Fu-chih Hsu Tzu-jung X X X Yang Ch'i-ching X Wang Chin-hsiang Wang Tung-hsing Liu Fu-chih X X X Ling Yun X Yen Yu-min Yii Sang X X
Only two of the eight 1966 vice ministers are still at their posts at the time of writing, possibly as many of them were proteges of a former
minister, Lo Jui-ch'ing, who was disgraced during the Cultural Revolution.
See Powell, R.L., "Public Security and the PLA" , Asian Survey, Vol. XII, No.12, pp.1082-1100.
See for instance, "Policewomen", Peking Review, No.1, 5/1/73, p.31. 21
22
Another former vice minister “ has been given more important
responsibilities. The whereabouts of the remaining five are unknown. The table below indicates the appearances made by high officials of the Ministry since October 1968.
TABLE 25
10-12
1-5
Name 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 Hsieh Fu-chih 15 56 4 1 (d) Li Chen 8 2 Liu Fu-chih 13 14 6 Shih Yi-chih 2 Yu Sang 4 13 22 44 10 TOTAL 15 60 17 36 66 20Members of the Ministry have appeared infrequently and rarely do their appearances indicate their real function. Usually they appear to bolster the numbers at National Day receptions or other ceremonial occasions.
23
Li Chen was identified as minister in October 1972, while Liu and Yil were confirmed in their positions during 1972. The number of known vice ministers has been reduced from eight in 1966 to only three, with the possibility that it might be increased to four in the near future.2^
The table below illustrates the political backgrounds of the officials so far identified in the Ministry.
TABLE 26
Same Ministry Oth
M, VM BD BDD Gov PLA Unk Total
Ministers and Vice Ministers
3 1 1 3
Bureau Official
1 1
22
Wang Tung-hsing is now an alternate member of the Politburo and the Director of the Central Committee's General Office.
23 NCNA 5/10/72. 24
The a p p o i n t m e n t o f a new v i c e m i n i s t e r whose i m m e d i a t e o r i g i n s we re t h e PLA i s n o t s u r p r i s i n g s i n c e t h e M i n i s t r y was c o m p l e t e l y t a k e n o v e r i n t h e C u l t u r a l R e v o l u t i o n by t h e PLA. Li Chen, t h e new M i n i s t e r , was a D e pu t y D i r e c t o r o f t h e P o l i t i c a l D e p a r t m e n t o f t h e M i n i s t r y o f R a i l w a y s b e f o r e 2 5 t h e C u l t u r a l R e v o l u t i o n . B e f o r e t h i s a p p o i n t m e n t he was o f t h e PLA.~ T h e r e i s n o t s u f f i c i e n t d a t a t o make more c o n c r e t e j u d g e m e n t s of t h e t y p e o f c a d r e s s t a f f i n g t h e M i n i s t r y . B e f o r e t h e C u l t u r a l R e v o l u t i o n t h e m i n i s t e r an d two o f t h e e i g h t v i c e m i n i s t e r s we r e on t h e C e n t r a l C o m m i t t e e . Among t h e f i v e m i n i s t e r i a l o f f i c i a l s i d e n t i f i e d s i n c e , t h r e e a r e members o f t h e 9 t h C e n t r a l 26 C o m m i t t e e . T h e r e i s l i t t l e a g e d a t a a v a i l a b l e , e x c e p t t h a t H s i e h F u - c h i h was 27 t h r e e y e a r s y o u n g e r t h a n h i s s u c c e s s o r . The a g e s o f t h e o f f i c i a l s i s p r o b a b l y h i g h e r i f we e x t e n d t h e 1966 a g e s o f t h e v i c e m i n i s t e r s . T h e r e i s no r e c o r d o f a ny women b e i n g e mp loy e d a t h i g h l e v e l s o f t h e M i n i s t r y . H s i e h F u - c h i h ' s w i f e , L i u H s i a n g - p ' i n g , i s a m i n i s t e r i n a n o t h e r . . . 28 m i n i s t r y . L a c k o f d a t a i n h i b i t s o u r s t u d y o f t h i s M i n i s t r y , b u t f ro m t h e m ea g re i n f o r m a t i o n a v a i l a b l e i t wo u l d seem t h a t PLA i n r o a d s h a v e b e e n k e p t t o a minimum d e s p i t e t h e f a c t t h a t t h i s M i n i s t r y was t a k e n o v e r by t h a t o r g a n i s a t i o n d u r i n g t h e C u l t u r a l R e v o l u t i o n . The M i n i s t r y p r o b a b l y i s o r g a n i s e d a l o n g s i m i l a r l i n e s t o t h e p r e 1966 e s t a b l i s h m e n t , w i t h a d d i t i o n a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s a c c r u i n g f rom t h e p r o b a b l e a m a l g a m a t i o n w i t h t h e M i n i s t r y o f I n t e r n a l A f f a i r s . L i was a p p o i n t e d t o h i s p o s i t i o n i n t h e R a i l w a y s M i n i s t r y i n 196 3. H s i e h F u - c h i h , L i Chen a nd Yü S a ng . H s i e h was b o r n i n 1 9 0 8.
^ NCNA 1 6 / 7 / 7 3 . NCNA 8 / 3 / 7 3 i d e n t i f i e d h e r a s b e i n g a 'woman v i c e m i n i s t e r ' .
Conclusions
Our study of these tvo ministries is made more difficult because of the lack of data. In neither case have we much knowledge of their
internal organisations, which is not a new phenomenon, nor have many officials been identified in either ministry.
At top levels, the number of new appointees has been very small: no new vice ministers in National Defence, and just one minister and a new vice minister in Public Security. Presumably deliberations on a possible successor to Lin Piao have taken place, but to date there has been no hint of an appointment.
In the Defence Ministry, the fall of Lin Piao was not accompanied by the disappearances of key officials. All the vice ministers remained at their posts, and the bureau officials retained their jobs. This contrasts with some of the PLA Service Arms where the disappearance rate was much
29
higher. The three vice ministers do not appear to have had close links with Lin Piao who seemed to rely on certain service arms for his chief support. This probably accounts for the survival of top ministerial officials following Lin’s demise. By contrast it appears that Lin’s fall has signalled a revival of the fortunes of the Public Security Ministry,
30
which had remained very subdued from 1968. Following his fall a new minister and three vice ministers have been identified and indications are that the ministry is operating normally.
Unlike the ministries already discussed and some of those to be considered in future chapters, the two ministries under discussion for security reasons have revealed little of their organisation and personnel.
29
Especially the General Staff, Air Force and Logistics Corps. Most of the purged military staff came from these areas.
30
The Public Security Ministry was not mentioned until Hsieh Fu-chih's death in March 1972. NCNA 29/3/72.
Yet despite this we can conclude that direct PLA involvement has been confined, especially since 1971, while at the same time, little new blood has been introduced at top levels. Age levels have therefore risen, and there are still no females at high levels. On the other hand, the
representation of Central Committee members has increased. Out of eight ministerial officials, six are members of the 9th Central Committee. This is the highest proportion of any group of ministries and indicates the prestige and political standing of the officials involved in these areas.
- Ministry of Commerce
- Ministry of Communications - Ministry of Finance
- Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications - State Planning Commission
The ministries included for consideration in this chapter are generally concerned with financing and planning China's economy. Two others play vital roles in co-ordinating economic activity in the communications field.
For four of these ministries very little information is available on 1
their personnel and internal structure, while in the case of the Ministry of Communications rather more is known. In the cases of the two ministries considered in the previous chapter, a similar dearth of information was probably caused by security reasons. In these instances, the paucity of
2
data is probably due to the fact that three of them have only recently been re-organised, while in the case of the fourth, political sensitivity about national economic planning may be inhibiting fuller publication of information.
Ministry of Commerce
No officials of this Ministry were identified until November/December 3
1972, and prior to that date this Ministry received only incidental 4
reference in the press and other sources of information.
^ The Ministries of Commerce, Finance, Posts and Telecommunications, and the State Planning Commission.
2
Ministries of Commerce, Finance, and Posts and Telecommunications.