本文為筆者在CNA工作成果之一。
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They can be seen guarding Zhongnanhai (中南海), the residence of the Chinese leaders, checking passports at border posts, fighting fires, cruising in their cars or working on the site of the Three Gorges Dam Project. They are all members of the People's Armed Police (人民武裝警察部隊, PAP). Their Commander, Yang Guoping (楊國屏), was promoted recently to the rank of full general, and at the Fifteenth Party Congress, PAP delegates were elected by a separate electoral college. Moreover, it has been recently confirmed that a part of the 500,000 servicemen to be demobilized will join the ranks of the PAP.1
The PAP's origins can be traced back to the guard unit responsible for the security of Party leaders, and which was organized by the Chinese Soviet government established in Jiangxi after 1927. After 1949, several units were successively established as part of the country's armed forces, and called "People's Public Security Unit," "Public Security Unit of the People's Liberation Army" (PLA), or "Public Security Army of the PLA." They were either placed under the control of the PLA or set up independently. However they were called, until 1983, these bodies were mainly responsible for internal security, especially the security of the country's leaders. After Mao Zedong's death in 1976, the PLA, which had over expanded during the Cultural Revolution, was restructured. Under the leadership of the Central Military Committee (CMC), functions began to be divided. This reform led to the formation of a new military unit in April 1983, the PAP.2
From 1983 to 1989 the PAP built up its organizations, and since 1989 it has become an important force confronting "unstable elements." Five years ago, China News Analysis presented the PAP's complex structure which reflects its military heritage and the police functions it assumes.3 In the past five years, the role and the importance of the PAP has continuously developed. Its status has risen both politically and economically. The PAP's role and its various developments in recent years reflect in their own way the evolution of Chinese society.
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE PAP
Although the press often presents reports on the PAP, few are those which describe the PAP as an entity belonging to the Chinese "People's Police." However, the PAP is, together with the Public Security Police (治安警察) and the Judicial Police (司法警察), one of the three components of the police force in China.
Policemen and soldiers
The Public Security Police is placed under the Ministry of Public Security (公安部) and made up of several branches: the criminal police (刑警), the traffic police (交警), the household registration police (戶籍警), the patrol police (巡警), and the fire brigades (消防警). To these must be added the railroad police (鐵路警察) under the Ministry of Railways and the public security police (correctional services, 治安警察, 管教) under the Ministry of Justice, both of which also have links with the Ministry of Public Security. The Judicial Police is under the control of the Supreme People's Court and of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Members of the Public Security Police and of the Judicial Police are professional policemen, while the PAP soldiers serve in the force for three years under the Chinese compulsory military service scheme. They are placed under the Headquarters of the PAP which includes the following ten categories: the internal security unit (內衛部隊), the guard unit (警衛部隊), the border defense unit (邊防部隊), the fire fighting unit (消防部隊), the gold exploration unit (黃金部隊), the hydroelectric projects unit (水電部隊), the traffic unit (交通部隊), the forest unit (森林部隊), the mobile unit (機動部隊), and the special police (特警).4
The various units
The internal security unit is the unit most closely connected with the CMC. There is one general unit (總隊) in each province which is an internal security unit set up since the beginning of the PAP. Beijing is the only exception with two general units. Mobile units are part of the internal security units; they have been organized step by step, expanding into the different provinces. The guard unit has a branch at every administrative level under the public security department or bureau, and is responsible for the safety of the leaders and the country's foreign guests. The task of the special police is to deal with terrorists and rioters, and in 1982 a Special Police School was set up in Beijing.5
The other units where PAP soldiers are border patrolmen, firemen, transport engineers, forest rangers, and gold miners are controlled by the Ministry of Public Security and other relevant ministries. Their link with the CMC seems to be less important than for the units dealing with internal security and public security issues. The gold exploration unit, organized 19 years ago, reportedly has excavated 600 tons of gold, but this year the troops have been strategically reorganized to better carry out their four main duties: geological surveys, mining, engineering, and production and management.6 The hydroelectric projects unit is working on the building sites of the Three Gorges Dam and other waterworks. The traffic unit is digging tunnels for new railroads in Western and Southwestern China.
Locally, these latter units may come under the supervision of the local government. In Tianjin, for example, the fire fighting unit and border defense unit are subject to the same "appearance standards" (形象標準) imposed upon the police by the city government. These standards define the behavior policemen must follow in carrying out their functions. In 1995, the PAP fire fighting unit in Shenyang (瀋陽) municipality became the "Shenyang Municipality Fire Fighting Bureau" (消防局) making it a PAP unit which is also a branch of the city government. This new arrangement quickly spread throughout Liaoning province. As a result, the local governments' budget for the PAP's fire fighting unit increased by ten million yuan.7
The border defense unit may be the second largest unit in the PAP, following the internal security unit. Between 1991 and 1995, it arrested 11,000 smugglers, and confiscated 2 million cases of cigarettes, 5,977 cars, and 146,000 electronic goods, worth 5.1 billion yuan. It detained 5,957 illegal emigrants trying to go overseas, 12,584 illegal emigrants to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and arrested 1,126 persons smuggling illegal emigrants. In recent years, most of the new PAP units have been border defense units. For example, on September 19, 1995, a "PAP Border Defense Command School" was opened in Hohhot (呼和浩特); in 1993, a Border Defense General Unit was set up in Henan; and in 1996, a Border General Defense Unit for Public Security was established in Tibet.8
A crippled police force
As one of the three components of the police force in China, and given its military organization, the PAP has a special role in the control of social order. However, the difficulties that the police force must now face make that role all the more important.
Many reports stress that the increase in the rate of crime is mainly due to the fact that the police is no longer a deterrent force. "We have authority but no power" (有權無威) is a common complaint. One commentator listed four main reasons for this state of affairs. First, in asking the police to focus primarily on the management of social issues (registration and family planning, for example), the legislators have left aside the "dictatorship" function of the police. As a result, it is legally ill-equipped to fight serious crimes. Second, in the transition from a rather static society (planned economy) to a dynamic one (market economy), the daily work of the police has basically remained unchanged. Accustomed to dealing with the routine management of society, the police was not prepared to deal with a new wave of criminality. Third, police equipment is often outdated. Fourth, corrupt behavior and lack of proper training have created a bad image which has ruined the relationship between the police and the citizens. The low education level of the police is also often criticized. In 1995, for example, out of all the members of the Public Security Police, only 3 per cent had received university education and 17 per cent had attended training colleges, while 20 per cent had not studied beyond the junior high school level. The majority (60 per cent) had a senior high school education. This is far below the provisions of Article 26 of the People's Police Law (February 1995) which states that policemen must be over 18 years of age and senior high school graduates.9
The relatively small number of policemen compared to other countries is also a hindrance. There are 144 policemen for every 10,000 people in Hong Kong, 48 in the United Kingdom, 29 in the United States and Taiwan, but only 8 in China.10 Even though it can be argued that the Chinese policemen have less bureaucratic tasks than their foreign counterparts (court reports, for example), with an estimated 960,000 policemen, the control of social order is often a very difficult task. Not only the criminal police and the patrol police are understaffed, but as the China Police Daily complains, some local governments even give policemen additional tasks which, the policemen feel, should be done by others. For example, they are asked to ensure that citizens pay their taxes, to enforce population control or to evict tenants from buildings marked for development.11
The police still lacks the proper structure to deal with crime. It was not until August 28, 1997 that the first county-level criminal police bureau was set up in Jinjiang (晉江, Fujian). Although such bureaus are now rapidly developing across the country, by the end of 1997 they had been set up in less than half of the counties. Another development was the routine police street patrols which were adopted in over 300 municipalities in 1993. At the scene of an accident, residents would wait for the police for a long time. The "110" emergency phone call centers have somewhat improved this situation. The first one was installed in 1986 in Guangzhou, but in 1997 this service did not yet exist in 35 per cent of the counties.12
In the past, to supplement police power, there were security teams (保安隊) composed of local volunteers. Since members of these teams did not receive proper training and also because concrete regulations were lacking, local governments are suppressing them to improve the quality of security. However, impostors are still present, and in many provinces a "strike the three fakes" (打三假) movement has been going on for some time in an attempt to eradicate fake policemen, fake police vehicles and fake police enterprises.13
With the setting up of a county criminal police, of emergency phone call centers and of police patrols, together with other developments, it is expected that the police will gradually become more efficient and be able to face the new problems of public security. Yet at present, the PAP remains an important tool to redress the weaknesses of the ordinary police force.
The PAP's role
The PAP is not a traffic police, nor should it be responsible for household registration as is the Public Security Police. Since its mission is to deal with security matters, the PAP plays a complementary role in street patrols and the arrest of criminals. This role was discussed at the first "Urban Garrison Conference" (城市警備會議) in Xiamen (廈門) in 1996. To better handle this new role, 78 PAP cadres attended and graduated in December 1997 from the first-ever training course in criminal investigation. 14
This complementary role can be illustrated by the achievements of the Shandong General Unit between 1993 and the summer of 1996. It prevented 69 attempted escapes by a total of 135 prisoners; it dispatched over 100,000 troops to safeguard public security at 3,000 public events; it sent 60,000 troops to accidents and other emergencies 1,800 times, during which 1,527 criminals were arrested and 11 killed. In addition, it dealt with 248 cases of smuggling; organized 6,000 troops to arrest a total of 3,790 criminals; and a total of 20,000 troops escorted 30,000 criminals from court to prison and between prisons. Besides, every branch unit was asked to put an armed patrol on the streets, and take part in the "Strike Hard" (嚴打) offensive.15 This is one example of provincial achievements. If similar tasks were accomplished in the other provinces, the PAP's role in the management of public order should not be underestimated.
Equipment
In addition, after 1989 the PAP was equipped to face demonstrations. Local governments and Party committees provided a special budget allocation to equip the mobile units with bulletproof vests and shields as well as non-lethal weapons such as tear gas bombs, rubber bullets, water cannons and electric rods. They also purchased cars and motorcycles, as well as communication equipment. The CMC authorized the deployment of a military airship for surveillance which can travel at 80 km per hour. It was first used during the funeral ceremony of Chen Yun (陳雲) in April 1995, and has been reported particularly useful in spotting early signs of "trouble," such as the large gatherings of students in the college district of northwest Beijing.16
The PAP has also inherited weapons from the PLA. In a 1995 drill in Xinjiang, PAP troops standing on a hill assembled 11 sets of 82 mm non-recoil artillery and mortars, and bombarded a target platform occupied by "criminals."17 Such drills may be done in view of any possible confrontation between the PAP and a "separatist group" in minority areas. However, according to the regulations on the PAP's use of weapons passed in January 1996, the PAP's mission is to deter illegal and criminal activities and, in doing so, avoid the injury of citizens and prevent the damage of property.
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