China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations

The 11th Bureau of the Ministry of State Security, outwardly known as the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR; KICK-er; Chinese: 中国现代国际关系研究院) under an arrangement called "one institution with two names", is a set of research institutes operated by the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) as a front to influence foreign diplomats and academics and collect open-source intelligence.[1][2] Located in Beijing, CICIR is operated by senior MSS officers.[1] A 2009 report from the CIA's Open Source Center concluded that CICIR resembles a "Soviet-style intelligence organ" whose principle intelligence customer is the Foreign Affairs Leading Group. CICIR is overseen by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.[3][4]

China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
中国现代国际关系研究院 (Chinese)
AbbreviationCICIR
Formation1965 (1965)
TypeGovernment-affiliated foreign policy think tank
HeadquartersBeijing, China
11th Bureau of the Ministry of State Security
President
Yang Mingjie
Parent organization
Ministry of State Security
AffiliationsChinese Communist Party
Websitewww.cicir.ac.cn
Formerly called
China Institute of Contemporary International Relations
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese中国现代国际关系研究院
Traditional Chinese中國現代國際關係研究院

CICIR has a staff of approximately 400, including 150 senior research fellows. It consists of 15 departments with different regional and functional concentrations, as well as two research divisions focusing on the Korean Peninsula and Central Asia, and eight research centers.[5] CICIR publishes the journal Contemporary International Relations (现代国际关系; Xiàndài Guójì Guānxì) in both Chinese and English, as well as China Security Studies.[6][7] The institute is authorized to confer master's and doctoral degrees.[7]

History

The origins of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations can be traced back to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence operations during the Chinese Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War. Specifically, these early intelligence operations targeted the US Dixie Mission and the Soviet presence in CCP base areas in Yan’an during the 1940s.[3]

In 1964, then-Premier Zhou Enlai ordered the creation of several colleges and university departments to focus on international affairs.[3] A number of ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security, established their own think tanks and research organizations under the decree.[8] CICIR was established in 1965.[9] At that time, it fell under the Foreign Affairs Leading Group of the CCP Central Committee, and served a number of senior officials.[3] CICIR was the only international relations institute or university in China that did not close during the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution.

In 1980, amidst Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up to the outside world, CICIR was designated an “open” institution, and was authorized to engage with foreigners as a means of enhancing intelligence collection.[3] It began publishing the journal Xiandai Guoji Guanxi (Contemporary International Relations) in 1981. The journal became quarterly in 1986, and has been published monthly since 1993.[8]

Institutional and personnel ties

CICIR is affiliated primarily with the Ministry of State Security, though domestic Chinese media rarely acknowledge this fact.[10]

In 1983, CICIR was placed under the bureaucratic management of the newly-created Ministry of State Security (MSS). In 1999, it was again placed under the CCP Central Committee, maintaining strong organizational ties to the MSS and Foreign Affairs Leading Group. In 2009, an article in the CCP journal Liaowang, published by Xinhua, called CICIR "subordinate" to the MSS. Hong Kong media have disputed its precise institutional position—whether it is actually the intelligence research arm of the MSS—or whether it merely provides "intelligence research and analysis" for the agency.[10]

Given, however, that the Foreign Affairs Leading Group is its principal customer, and it is largely funded by the MSS, it can be called a "Soviet-style intelligence organ."[10]

In 2003, CICIR changed its name from the China Institute of International Relations to the China Institutes of International Relations.[5]

A number of cases have been reported of CICIR researchers traveling abroad to collect intelligence for reporting back to the MSS. Geng Huichang, the Minister of State Security from 2007 to 2016, served as the president of CICIR from 1990 to 1993. According to David Shambaugh, CICIR's leadership "all share lengthy and shadowy careers in the intelligence services."[10]

Focus, functions, influence
Further information: Influence operations and Chinese intelligence activity abroad

While CICIR's research spans the range of international affairs, its major focus is the US and US-China relations.[10]

Its activities include: providing reports to government departments, publishing research in academic journals, carrying out projects on commission from the PRC government, conducting joint research projects with domestic and foreign institutions, promoting academic exchanges, offering Master's and PhD programs.[10]

CICIR is the public face of the 11th Bureau of the Ministry of State Security, China's main civilian intelligence agency.[1][2] The organization itself does not speak much about its relationship with the Chinese government, however, and Chinese media reports rarely acknowledge the institution's ties with the regime.[10]

The institute has held considerable influence over China's foreign policy decision-making process due, in part, to its close organizational proximity to the CCP Central Committee, the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, the Foreign Affairs Office, and the MSS. The institute's relevance to the foreign policy process is further bolstered by its large research staff and ability to produce timely intelligence analysis.[3] This influence has been in decline since the mid-1990s, however, coinciding with the death or retirement of some of its senior researchers, and the growing influence of the Foreign Ministry in foreign policy decision-making.[3]

The CICIR is part of the Green Belt and Road Initiative Center, a platform for CCP influence operations targeting the international environmental movement.[11]

Directors
  • Chen Zhongjing (unknown – unknown)
  • Liu Seqing (unknown – unknown)
  • Geng Huichang (March 1990 – April 1993)[1]
  • Unknown (April 1993 – September 1999)
  • Lu Zhongwei (September 1999 – 2005)
  • Cui Liru (February 2005 – 2013)
  • Ji Zhiye (2013 – 2018)
  • Yuan Peng (2018 – 2023)
  • Yang Mingjie (2023 – present)[12]

See also

References
  1. Joske, Alex (2022). Spies and Lies: How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World. Hardie Grant Books. pp. 24–29, 112, 117. ISBN 978-1-74358-900-7. OCLC 1347020692.
  2. Mattis, Peter; Brazil, Matthew (2019-11-15). Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-304-7. OCLC 1117319580.
  3. Shambaugh, David (2002). "China's International Relations Think Tanks: Evolving Structure and Process". The China Quarterly. 171 (171): 575–596. doi:10.1017/S0009443902000360. ISSN 0305-7410. JSTOR 4618770. S2CID 154801635.
  4. Swaine, Michael D. (1998). The role of the Chinese military in national security policymaking. National Defense Research Institute (U.S.). Santa Monica, California: Rand. ISBN 0-8330-2527-9. OCLC 37213550.
  5. China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations Archived July 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, accessed 5 July 2011.
  6. China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (Beijing) (2004). "Contemporary International Relations". Contemporary International Relations. ISSN 1003-3408. OCLC 230118253.
  7. "About Us". China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  8. Chan, Gerald (1998). International Studies in China: An Annotated Bibliography. Nova Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56072-588-6. OCLC 923873469. Archived from the original on 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  9. Liao, Xuanli (2006). Chinese Foreign Policy Think Tanks and China's Policy Towards Japan. Chinese University Press. ISBN 978-962-996-266-1. OCLC 475305391. Archived from the original on 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  10. "Profile of MSS-Affiliated PRC Foreign Policy Think Tank CICIR" (PDF). Open Source Center. August 25, 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 10, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  11. Jirouš, Filip (9 September 2022). "Make the Green Serve China: PRC Influence Operations Target International Environmentalism". China Brief. Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  12. Hsiao, Russell (2023-08-23). "Personnel Changes at the PRC's Organs for Taiwan Intelligence Analysis". Global Taiwan Institute. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
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