Hebei ‘Firefighter’ Appointed Head of China’s Police

Former Hebei party secretary Zhao Kezhi has become the secretary of the party committee in China’s police force as part of a reshuffle of senior officials following the conclusion of the Communist Party’s 19th National Congress last week.

The Party’s Organization Department, which oversees personnel changes, has not made an official announcement about Zhao’s appointment, but he hosted a meeting of senior party officials within the colossal Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday, according to a post on the ministry’s official website.

Zhao also reportedly attended a meeting of the Committee of Political and Legal Affairs the same day, a unit under the party’s Central Committee that is now headed by his predecessor Guo Shengkun. The powerful committee oversees the judicial system and the police in China.

Zhao, who turns 64 in December, is best known as the “firefighter” who was dispatched to Hebei province in 2015 to contain the fallout from the downfall of Zhou Benshun, the disgraced former provincial party chief who was sentenced in February to 15 years in prison for accepting more than 40 million yuan ($6 million) in bribes from 2003 to 2015.

Zhao was party secretary of the southwestern province of Guizhou before he was sent to Hebei.

He relinquished the post in Hebei last week and was succeeded by Wang Dongfeng, who was previously the mayor of the northern port city of Tianjin.

Zhao is likely to also be made a government minister to run the Ministry of Public Security under China’s cabinet, the State Council. His predecessor was both the party chief and minister of the police force.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com)