National Security Committee

The National Security Committee (国家安全委员会) is a central government agency established for improving systems and strategies that ensure national security, according to a communiqué issued on November 12, 2013, right after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. 

On Jan. 25, 2014, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided that President Xi Jinping will head the committee and appointed Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang as committee's deputy heads. The committee will answer to the Political Bureau and its standing committee.

It will be in charge of making overall plans and coordinating major issues and major work concerning national security.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press briefing on November 13, 2013 said, "All those forces who intend to threaten or sabotage China's national security, will feel nervous."

The establishment was first proposed in 1997, when former Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited the U.S. National Security Council during his trip to the country.

Similar councils have been set up in Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand and Malaysia to coordinate security strategies across various departments and give advice to heads of state, absorbing members from the diplomatic, military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

A committee under the Japanese House of Representatives has passed a bill on establishing a U.S.-style National Security Council. The committee aims to make and coordinate Japan's foreign and security policies.