Liu Yuejin

Liu Yuejin (刘跃进) was former assistant minister of public security and a key figure in China's crackdown on illegal narcotics. He was appointed as the first commissioner of counterterrorism in December 2015.

Liu is expected to coordinate the nation's efforts to prevent terrorist attacks. His appointment follows a series of terror attacks in recent years across the country that have claimed many lives, including in March 2014 when an armed gang killed 29 people and injured 143 others in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province.

In May 2014, the ministry launched a one-year operation targeting major violent incidents. According to the authorities, several terror suspects from China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region were prevented from leaving the country to receive terrorist training in the Middle East or join the Islamic State.

Liu, who is from the central province of Hunan and in earlier interviews has called himself a "grassroots police officer", has been involved in efforts to halt the illegal drug trade since the 1980s.

After the murder of 13 Chinese fishermen aboard two vessels, the Huaping and Yuxing 8, in October 2011, Liu was appointed head of a special investigation team that worked with police in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand to capture the culprits, including druglord Naw Kham.

In November 2012, Naw Kham, who was from Myanmar, and several members of his gang were sentenced to death in a Yunnan court.

Liu has also served as deputy director of public security for Tianjin, director of the Public Security Ministry's General Affairs Office and director of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force Academy.