Luo Qingchang
Luo Qingchang | ||
|---|---|---|
罗青长 | ||
| 5th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | ||
| In office March 1978 – June 1983 | ||
| Chairman | Ye Jianying | |
| 1st Central Advisory Commission | ||
| In office 1982–1987 | ||
| Chairman | Deng Xiaoping | |
| 10th, 11th, and 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party | ||
| In office 1973–1987 | ||
| Director of the Central Investigation Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party | ||
| In office 1973–1983 | ||
| Personal details | ||
| Born | September 4, 1918 Hanyu Pinyin | Luó Qīngcháng |
Luo Qingchang (Chinese: 罗青长; 4 September 1918 – 15 April 2014) was a Chinese politician and long-time leader of the security and intelligence services of the Chinese Communist Party, where he worked for 45 years (1938–1983), eventually serving as Director of the Central Investigation Department (the primary civilian intelligence agency) from 1973 to 1983.[1]
Biography
Luo wao born to a peasant family in
Initially working in political propaganda among young soldiers, Luo caught the eye of Wu Defeng, an experienced Communist Party intelligence agent, who recommended him to the Central Party School in Yan'an, where Luo studied from September 1937 to July 1938, receiving political and military training. Immediately afterwards, from July to December 1938, he was part of the Intelligence Training Class at Zaoyuan (near Yan'an) where some of his instructors were Soviet-trained agents.[2] After completing the intelligence training program in December 1938, he was posted to Xi'an, under the cover of being a confidential assistant (机要秘书; jiyao mishu), though his actual duties were to work with the Party's clandestine intelligence network against both the Japanese invaders and the Chinese Nationalist government. In 1938–39 he coordinated the penetration of Kuomintang (KMT) commander Hu Zongnan's headquarters.[2]
Luo was posted back to Yan'an in 1941 and became an intelligence analyst, earning accolades as a "living archive" (有名的活档案; you ming de huo dang'an), after coming to the attention of
After the Communist victory and the establishment of the
Official Chinese Communist records credit Luo with personally preventing an assassination attempt against
Other important intelligence activities during the 1950s and 1960s included the funding, arming and training of dozens of
The Central Investigation Department also worked to combat the US trade embargo on China (in place since 1950) by collaborating with the Greek shipping billionaire Aristotle Onassis, whose ships went on to secretly carry cargo to Chinese ports in violation of the embargo.[4]
During the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, in 1966 and 1967, Luo Qingchang was initially named as a "black element" and endured persecution by the Red Guards, but very soon he managed to escape harm and return to his duties;[5][6] this was almost unique among high-ranking CID officials, and probably had to do with Luo's friendship with Premier Zhou Enlai and Wang Dongxing; nearly all leading officials of the CID were purged between 1966 and 1970.[2]
As China and the Soviet Union became increasingly hostile and Mao Zedong played "the American card" by coming to an understanding with Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, Luo found himself presiding over the daily work of the CID, which officially had remained without a Director since 1967 (in 1969 it was even placed under the Intelligence Bureau of the PLA General Staff, although in practice the merger was not complete). The CID was finally reestablished in March 1973, with Luo named Director.
After the death of Mao Zedong, Luo supported Hua Guofeng, and he strongly resented Deng Xiaoping’s rise to power in the late 1970s. Deng suggested that the CID move away from diplomatic cover for its overseas officers, urging them to instead rely more on secret, illegal cover and make greater use of foreign agents; he claimed that this guidance originated with Zhou Enlai just before the Cultural Revolution. Luo openly defied Deng, dispatched additional personnel abroad under diplomatic cover, and told subordinates it was imperative to resist Deng’s "anti-party" views.
A skilled bureaucratic in-fighter, Luo managed to retain his position as intelligence chief until July 1983, when the security and intelligence reorganization program abolished the CID and replaced it with the new Ministry of State Security.[2]
After Luo was pushed out of intelligence leadership in July 1983, he remained active as the deputy (and later as an advisor) on the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs.[2]
Luo died of an illness in Beijing on 15 April 2014, at the age of 95.[7][8]
Personal life
Luo had six children, his eldest child named Luo Kang (罗抗), born in the Second Sino-Japanese War; the second son named Luo Ting (罗挺), born in the Chinese Civil War; the third son named Luo Yuan, born in the Korean War, his youngest son was Luo Zhen (罗振).[5][9]
References
- ^ Luo Qingchang (罗青长 , 1918–2014), in Peter L. Mattis and Matthew J. Brazil, Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Luo Qingchang (罗青长 , 1918–2014), in Peter L. Mattis and Matthew J. Brazil, Chinese Communist Espionage : An Intelligence Primer, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2019
- ^ Gérald Arboit, "The Chinese intelligence services in Africa", in Handbook on China and Globalization, pp. 305-321, edited by Huiyao Wang and Lu Miao, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019
- ^ Gelina Harlaftis, The United States Government v. Aristotle Onassis, 1951–1958, Cambridge University Press, 2019
- ^ a b 罗援:我们必须铭记那些为共和国流血牺牲的英雄 (in Chinese). Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on 2011-10-13. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
- ^ 罗援少将被质疑 (in Chinese). RFI 法广中文网. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
- ^ "罗青长：曾任中央调查部部长 周总理临终前召见 [Luo Qingchang: Former head of the CPC Central Committee Investigation Department dies of illness in Beijing age 96". Chinese Communist Party News Department. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014. (in Chinese)
- ^ 罗青长遗体告别仪式举行 众多"红二代"吊唁 (in Chinese). 163.COM. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
- ^ 美国留不住中国学生 (in Chinese). People's Daily. Retrieved 2005-03-18.