Amid Xi Jinping’s recent anti-corruption campaign that targets China’s political and legal system, many officials who were recently taken down were part of the “610 Office.”
The 610 Office is a Gestapo-like organization that was established by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under former leader Jiang Zemin on June 10, 1999—hence its name—formally known as the “Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions.”
It was established for the sole purpose of carrying out the persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. The practice became enormously popular—with roughly 100 million adherents in China by 1999, according to official estimates. Threatened by this number, which was greater than the number of Party members, Jiang ordered the brutal suppression of Falun Gong practitioners.
The 610 Office was rarely seen in government reports, and it had been the most secretive organization within the CCP until 2013, when it was first exposed to the public.
Xi initiated the anti-corruption campaign after he took office in 2012. Most of the purged officials were part of Jiang’s political faction.
The announcement is noteworthy because it was the first time the CCP publicly confirmed the existence of the 610 Office.
This year marks the end of Xi’s second term, and he has not let up on his efforts of “cleaning out” the CCP’s political and legal system. As Xi seeks re-election next year, he wants to make sure that his political rivals don’t get in his way in the lead up to the 20th National Congress.
610 Officials Recently Purged
The following 610 officials were removed from their posts in October: Peng Bo, former 610 Office deputy director, was prosecuted; Sun Lijun, former 610 Office deputy director, was expelled from the CCP for “forming factions” and “jeopardizing political security”; Fu Zhenghua, former minister of Justice, former deputy minister of Public Security, and former 610 Office director, is being investigated for “serious violations of the law and discipline”; and Chen Yizhong, director of the 610 Office of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, is under investigation.As early as 2016, the CCP’s disciplinary watchdog sent an inspection team to the central 610 Office. The inspection team came out with a report, claiming that the then-leading cadres of the central 610 Office failed to consistently uphold Xi’s political ideology—in others words, they were disloyal to Xi.
In 2018, Xi dissolved the central 610 Office. It was then incorporated into the Ministry of Public Security and Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC).
However, the 610 Office has never had a legal basis for its existence as it has no approval from the CCP’s rubber-stamp legislature (the National People’s Congress), nor from the Politburo, the CCP’s top main decision-making body.
The CCP’s public security, judicial, and legal systems have power, guns, and money. Their loyalty is of top concern to Xi.
At a meeting in January with the CCP’s disciplinary body, Xi alluded that he would take down “double-faced” officials, and warned that corruption took hold of the political and business circles, which “threaten the political security of the Party and the state.”
Political Infighting
The 610 Office that was supposedly dismantled has once again attracted attention as a result of the latest round of purging of high-level officials.According to the CCP’s official announcements, Fu Zhenghua and other high-ranking officials have used their power in the political and legal system to form interest groups or political factions, whose main goal is to plot against a larger target.
DuoWei News, a Beijing-based propaganda outlet targeting overseas Chinese, published an article on Oct. 15, claiming that the 610 Office was established during a special Politburo meeting convened by Jiang Zemin on June 7, 1999.
The article said that since the establishment of the 610 Office, the three Chinese premiers—Zhu Rongji, Wen Jiabao, and Li Keqiang—have not signed the appointment and the dismissal orders of the directors and deputy directors. One reason is that the 610 Office directly handled the persecution of Falun Gong, which is considered a “sensitive” issue. In addition, there is no official document that stipulates the duties and responsibilities of the 610 Office, which reports directly to the standing committee of the CCP’s Politburo, according to DuoWei News.
Falun Gong has been persecuted for 22 years, and has been the international focus of human rights abuses in China.
The 610 Office has been recognized by the global community for its role in carrying out the CCP’s notorious human rights abuses. Some experts outside of China see Xi’s anti-corruption measure against these 610 officials as a sign of his intention to cut off ties with the persecution apparatus.
Aside from its role in persecuting Falun Gong, the 610 Office is an extralegal institution that uses its power and resources to collect intelligence for Jiang’s faction to attack political opponents and to plot a coup d'état.
It has attacked Hu Jintao, former CCP leader who succeeded Jiang, and is now threatening Xi’s authority.
Therefore, the recent purging of 610 officers reflects the fierce power struggle that has intensified among high-level CCP officials, as Xi seeks to secure his leadership.
