Global face of security forces earns promotion
Top police officer who is guiding China’s work with US in drug fight given ministerial role
China has promoted a veteran police officer who oversees cooperation with the US in the fight against fentanyl as assistant public security minister.
The promotion of Hu Binchen, the 53-year-old director of the International Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, to assistant minister rank and as member of the ministry’s Communist Party committee, was revealed by the State Council, China’s cabinet this week.
The ministry also promoted Liu Zhongyi, 59, director of its Criminal Investigation Bureau, to the same position.
The promotion of Hu, widely regarded as the international face of China’s security forces, came as Beijing and Washington renewed bilateral law enforcement and security engagement following an ice-breaking summit between President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco in November.
In January, Hu was among two officials who jointly launched the US-China Counternarcotics Working Group during a visit to Beijing by the US deputy assistant to the president and deputy homeland security adviser Jen Daskal.
Hu first caught international media attention in November 2021 when he gained one of two seats representing Asia on Interpol’s executive committee, despite allegations by international human rights groups over human rights abuses in China. Hu was then the International Cooperation Bureau’s deputy director.
Hu holds a master’s degree in criminology from the University of Cambridge and has spent his career working in international police cooperation for China, his official resume said.
He served as police counsellor at the Chinese embassy in the US in 2014 after serving as director of the US and Oceania division of the ministry’s International Cooperation Bureau.