Zhao Kezhi (; born 28 December 1953) is a Chinese politician who currently serves as a State Councilor of the People’s Republic of China and the former Minister and

Party Committee Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

of the Ministry of Public Security, with the top police officer rank of Police Commissioner General. He is the former Communist Party Secretary of

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

and

Guizhou Guizhou (; Postal romanization, formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in the Southwest China, southwest region of the China, People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the pr ...

provinces, and the former Governor of Guizhou province. He had also previously served as a vice governor of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

and

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...

provinces.

Career

Zhao was born in

Laixi Laixi () is a county-level city of Qingdao sub-provincial city, Shandong Province, China. Laixi is known as "Qingdao's Back Garden". , its neighbor to the north; however, Laixi is now the northernmost county-level division of Qingdao and Laiya ...

province. Zhao Kezhi entered the workforce in March 1973 as a middle school teacher in Laixi, and joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

in January 1975. In April 1984, he became the mayor and deputy Communist Party Chief of Laixi County, was transferred in March 1987 to be the mayor and deputy party chief of nearby Jimo, and became party chief of Jimo in 1989. In December 1997, he was promoted to be the party chief of

Dezhou Dezhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the southeast, Liaocheng to the southwest, Binzhou to the northeast, and the province of Hebei t ...

, a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of Chi ...

in Shandong. From February 2001 to March 2006, he was a vice governor of Shandong province. In 2006, Zhao Kezhi was transferred to neighbouring

province, where he was the executive vice governor until August 2010, when he was transferred again to southwestern

province, where he was appointed deputy party chief and acting governor. A month later he was elected by the Guizhou Provincial Congress as governor. In July 2012 Zhao was promoted to concurrently serve as the Communist Party Secretary of Guizhou; in December he relinquished his governor post, and

Chen Min'er Chen Min'er (; born 29 September 1960) is a Chinese politician and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party who is serving as the Communist Party Secretary of Tianjin. From 2017 to 2022, he served as the Communist Party Secreta ...

was chosen as his successor. In July 2015, following the dismissal of Zhou Benshun, Zhao was named party chief of

province. During his term in Hebei, planning began for the ambitious Xiong'an New Area. In October 2017, shortly after the

19th Party Congress The 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (commonly referred to as ''Shíjiǔ Dà''; ) was held at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, between 18 and 24 October 2017. 2,280 delegates represented the party's estimated 89 milli ...

, Zhao, then 63, was appointed as the Party Committee Secretary of the Ministry of Public Security. He was appointed as the Minister of Public Security on November 4, 2017. In March 2018, Zhao was appointed as a

State Councilor A state councillor () is a high-ranking position within the State Council, the executive organ of the Chinese government (comparable to a cabinet). It ranks immediately below the Vice-Premiers and above the ministers of various departments. ...

. In June 2018, he became Deputy Secretary of the

Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (中央政法委, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Commu ...

. Zhao is a member of the

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect numb ...

and 19th Central Committees of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Kezhi Living people 1953 births State councillors of China Ministers of Public Security of the People's Republic of China Governors of Guizhou Political office-holders in Shandong Political office-holders in Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shandong People's Republic of China politicians from Shandong Politicians from Qingdao Vice-governors of Shandong Vice-governors of Jiangsu Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party