Original Author: Chen Yixin
The head of China’s Ministry of State Security, Chen Yixin, reflects on efforts to implement the “Overall National Security Outlook” ten years after Chinese leader Xi Jinping first introduced the concept in 2014. Chen highlights the 2020 National Security Law in Hong Kong, more formalized national security education, and the build out of a national security legal and regulatory architecture as key accomplishments over the past decade. Looking ahead, Chen emphasizes the need to further advance China’s national security through a variety of mechanisms, including greater technological self-reliance, improved counter-sanctions mechanisms, and more assertive efforts to advance China’s security principles on the international stage.
Chen Yixin, a high-ranking official at the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission and a possible candidate to take the top spot at the commission at the 20th Party Congress, penned a long, and often hagiographic, analysis of Xi Jinping in a July edition of Study Times, a daily newspaper run by the Central Party School.
The article signals Xi’s intent to pursue legal reforms that legitimate as well as help the CCP leverage China’s legal system as a tool for achieving its political agenda. This includes not only for ensuring domestic stability and CCP authority but also as a viable, if not superior, alternative to the Western legal system.
Summary of remarks given to the Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee by Chen Yixin, the organization’s Secretary-General. The speech is a good encapsulation of Xi Jinping’s thinking on domestic security.