Background on the 610 Office

The 610 Office (named for its creation date of June 10, 1999) handles the day-to-day implementation of the anti-Falun Gong campaign under the direction of higher officials and the CCP’s Leading Group. Its formal name is the Office of the Leading Group for Prevention and Handling Xiejiao-related (heretic) Issues of the CCP Central Committee (previously called the Office of Leading Group for Handling the Falun Gong Issue.) It has branches throughout the country.[1]

 

In order of their terms in office, the Central 610 Office directors since 1999 include: Wang Maoling, Liu Jing, Li Dongsheng, Liu Jinguo, Fu Zhenghua, Huang Ming, and Sun Lijun. In March 2018, the party-state underwent a restructuring and consolidation process. Under these changes, the responsibilities of the Leading Group and its 610 Office were transferred to the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC) and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).[9] There has long been a close connection between the 610 Office leadership and the MPS, as all of the Central 610 Office directors since 2001 have simultaneously held the position of Vice Minister for Public Security. The Central 610 Office has also shared offices with Bureau 26 of the MPS (also known as the Anti-Cult Bureau, which was the state agency created parallel to the 610 Office to implement the persecution against Falun Gong).

 

Since the 2018 consolidation, Bureau 4 has taken over the responsibilities and functions of the former Central 610 Office. References to the 610 Office continue to appear on some local websites and in victim accounts, but much less frequently than in the past.

 

Jiang Zemin established, at the highest echelons of the Communist Party, the Leading Group for Handling the Falun Gong Issue. At the time, Li Lanqing—then a member of the Politburo Standing Committee—was assigned to head the group. When Li retired in 2002, the responsibility was transferred to Luo Gan, who was also head of PLAC, which oversees China’s legal and security apparatus. Since that time, the head of PLAC has simultaneously led the Falun Gong-focused Leading Group. The CCP officials heading the Leading Group since Li’s retirement have been Luo Gan, Zhou Yongkang, Meng Jianzhu, and Guo Shengkun (2017- present). All have been PLAC secretaries.

 

The two central CCP officials currently leading ongoing security campaigns to monitor, arbitrarily detain, punish, and forcibly “transform” Falun Gong believers throughout China—including via torture and extrajudicial killing—are Zhao Leji and Guo Shengkun.