Chinese: 北京市国家安全局 | |
BSSB listing address at the Beijing Ministry of Public Security headquarters | |
Bureau overview | |
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Formed | May 1984 |
Preceding bureau |
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Jurisdiction | Beijing, China |
Headquarters | Puhuangyu, Fangzhuang, Fengtai District, Beijing, China |
Employees | Classified |
Annual budget | Classified |
Bureau executive |
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Parent ministry | Ministry of State Security |
Child bureau |
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The Beijing State Security Bureau (Chinese: 北京市国家安全局; BSSB) is a municipal bureau of the Chinese Ministry of State Security tasked with national security, intelligence and secret policing in the country's capital. Like other state security bureaus, the Beijing bureau is semi-autonomous from the national headquarters of the MSS located across the city. Established in May 1984 from parts of the Beijing public security bureau,[1] the bureau has been accused of numerous human rights abuses, and has been involved in the arrest of journalists, jailing of dissidents, torture of businessmen, and was responsible for abducting the "two Michael's" used as hostages in exchange for Canada's release of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wangzhou.
The bureau appears to place a heavy emphasis on internal and political security operations. While Beijing may be well suited for operations against foreign countries, and nearly all MSS bureaus specialize in one area or another, according to Chinese intelligence expert Peter Mattis, "the huge number of foreign officials and businesspeople living in and transiting the city probably keep the focus on counterintelligence."[2]
The bureau has 21 operational divisions and is headquartered in a nondescript building at Puhuangyu in Fangzhuang subdistrict, Fengtai District of Beijing.[3][better source needed] One of the most recent additions was the Shijingshan District bureau, established in 2005.[4] The bureau also operates a detention facility which holds sensitive political prisoners transferred from across the country to a central location in Beijing.[5]
For example, the state security outfit in Beijing's Shijingshan District was established only in 2005. (from 北京石景山年鉴 ["Beijing Shijingshan Statistical Yearbook"] 2006, p. 201.)
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