Name Geng Huichang | Party Communist Party of China | |
 | ||
PRESS RELEASE by Chinese Cabinet
Geng Huichang (Chinese: 耿惠昌; pinyin: Gěng Hùichāng; born November 1951), was the Minister of State Security of the People's Republic of China and a former President of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, an influential think tank.
Contents
Biography
Geng was born in Laoting County, Hebei Province.
In 1985 he became Deputy Director of the American Research Department of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a Beijing-based think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security and overseen by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He was promoted to President of CICIR in 1990, and retained this position until 1993. During his time at CICIR Geng held the title of "Professor" and studied Islamic fundamentalism in Asia. In 1992 he authored a work entitled Multi-National Coordination: Feasibility in Asia-Pacific in Contemporary International Relations.
In September 1998 he became deputy minister of the Ministry of State Security. He was involved in security preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics, and traveled to Greece in March 2006 in order to study how Greece handled security at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He met with Minister of Public Order Georgios Voulgarakis in Beijing in November 2005, where a memorandum on security issues was signed.
In August 2007 he was promoted to Minister of State Security, succeeding Xu Yongyue. Geng is a political ally of former President Hu Jintao, who promoted him to Minister so he could consolidate his own power. Geng is an international relations specialist and an expert on the United States, Japan and industrial espionage. Geng is the first Minister of State Security with a background in international politics rather than internal security.
In August 2011 Geng visited Nepal in order to develop their bilateral relations. In September 2012 Geng was part of a delegation led by Zhou Yongkang to Singapore, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. In Singapore, he attended the opening ceremony of the Singapore-China Social Management Forum at St. Regis Hotel.
Beginning in January 2010 Geng, has also been a member of the National Energy Commission, a State Council-established body designed to improve the coordination of China's energy industry. He is also a member of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
Geng Huichang was a member of the 17th and 18th Central Committees of the Communist Party of China.