Cheng Xiaonong Reveals Secrets Behind the Red Wall: Even Senior Officials’ Bodyguards Are Also Their Monitors

On June 9, 2012, the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing was visible at sunset following a rain shower. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

[People News] The new book The Red Wall by Cheng Xiaonong, a scholar based in the United States, was published in Taiwan on October 27 this year. Cheng previously worked at the Research Office of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China and at the Institute of Economic Structural Reform, established by Zhao Ziyang. In an interview with Radio Free Asia, drawing on his own experience working within the system, he discussed the internal operations of the CCP’s top leadership, including confidential communications, personal security guards, and the power relationships behind the locations where senior leaders conduct their activities.

According to Radio Free Asia, Zhongnanhai in Beijing is often regarded as the symbol of the CCP’s supreme political power. However, Cheng Xiaonong believes that understanding this system requires more than simply examining its publicly disclosed institutional structure and officials’ positions. It is also necessary to understand the unwritten internal rules governing everyday office operations, communications, and security arrangements.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia at a hotel in Taipei this Tuesday (the 3rd), Cheng Xiaonong said: “Only when you are actually inside the inner circle can you encounter people who are directly connected to these kinds of ‘unwritten rules,’ and only then can you understand their subtleties. What I am discussing now is the secret surveillance of the CCP’s highest-ranking officials. This surveillance ensures that their heads can be taken at any time, or that they can be promoted.”

His Experience Inside the System Reveals Secrets Behind the Red Wall

The Red Wall consists of ten chapters divided into four parts: "The Core of Power," "The Black-Box Mechanism," "Power Struggles at the Highest Levels," and "Historical Cycles." Beginning with five locations—Zhongnanhai, the Great Hall of the People, Yuquanshan, Diaoyutai, and the Jingxi Hotel—the book gradually explores surveillance of senior officials, decision-making mechanisms, and power struggles within the CCP leadership.

In chapters such as Entering the "Inner Palace" to Work and An Extraordinary Encounter at the Office of the NPC Standing Committee, Cheng Xiaonong recounts his experiences working within the system. He recalls that while working at the Research Office of the NPC Standing Committee, he worked alongside Deng Rong, the younger daughter of Deng Xiaoping. Because she trusted him, he was given access to certain internal affairs. Through the assignments she gave him and their everyday conversations, he gradually came to realise that a person's publicly stated official position does not necessarily fully reflect their actual identity or role.

The telephone in his office was another way through which he came to understand this system. Cheng Xiaonong said that he had used the high-level officials' confidential telephone system known as the "Red Machine." Later, after gaining access to central government departmental budgets and making further inquiries, he came to understand that this communications system also had an internal eavesdropping function.

Confidential Telephones Are Also Surveillance Tools

Cheng Xiaonong said: "Although it is confidential from the CCP's perspective, the Red Machine is actually a comprehensive surveillance system. The moment you pick up the receiver, the recording is automatically triggered. As soon as you pick up the telephone, every single word you say is recorded without omission. The surveillance unit consists of personnel from the Confidential Communications Bureau, who transcribe your conversation word for word and report it to their superiors."

In addition to the Red Machine, he also described office telephones whose numbers began with "39." On one occasion, while attending an economic seminar for young and middle-aged cadres from central government agencies, he filled in his office telephone number on the registration form, attracting the attention of other participants. Only then did he realise that, in the eyes of some officials working in central government agencies, a "39 Bureau" telephone number indicated that its user worked in a core government office area.

Cheng Xiaonong recalled that some participants had heard of the "39 Bureau" telephone system but did not know which institutions used it. He said that at the time, these numbers could not be looked up through ordinary telephone directory services, although people who knew the numbers could call them from outside. A set of office telephone numbers could therefore also serve as an identifying marker revealing the user's identity and workplace.

Personal Bodyguards Serve Not Only to Protect but Also to Monitor

Moving from communications surveillance to physical surveillance, the chapter Who Is the CCP's Chief Steward Inside the Inner Palace? further examines the security apparatus protecting senior officials and its political role. In Cheng Xiaonong's view, the key to understanding this system lies in determining whose orders the bodyguards obey. The fact that leaders spend virtually every day with their bodyguards does not mean that they can independently control this security force. However,

Cheng Xiaonong said: "Every Politburo member is assigned personal bodyguards. These bodyguards are responsible not only for protecting their so-called superiors, but also for arresting them. This is something that does not exist anywhere else in the world, but it does exist in China. The bodyguards themselves do not make that decision; their boss does. Because the bodyguards are military personnel, they must obey orders unconditionally. The director of the Security Bureau is the person who directly issues orders to the bodyguards.

He pointed out that bodyguards are also responsible for surveillance in their daily duties, reporting their protectees' activities to their superiors, including where they go and whom they meet.

During an interview lasting more than an hour, he also refuted claims that different security systems "serve different masters" and might even exchange gunfire with one another. "They often claim that the Military Commission Security Bureau and the Central Security Bureau have clashed or even exchanged fire. In reality, they are the same military unit. There are no two separate forces involved." According to his explanation, this force operates under a unified command structure. Its personnel obey the orders of the head of the Security Bureau rather than pledging individual allegiance to the leaders they are assigned to protect.

Decision-Making Does Not Take Place Only at Zhongnanhai

Discussing the locations where decisions are made, Cheng Xiaonong drew on his own experiences entering the five aforementioned sites to explain their different functions in office operations, residential arrangements, diplomatic receptions, and meetings. He said: "Ordinary people assume that Zhongnanhai is the CCP's only decision-making centre. In reality, it is an administrative and office location." He believes that senior leaders also handle official matters at their residences, and that the actual locations where decisions are made are not necessarily the formal office locations familiar to the outside world.

In Cheng Xiaonong's view, where senior leaders handle official business, as well as who controls their communications and security arrangements, are all important clues to understanding how power operates at the highest levels of the CCP.

He believes that communication records, activity reports, and secret files collectively form a system of constraints over senior officials. Even those who reach the Politburo or Politburo Standing Committee level cannot escape this surveillance system. He said: "Everyone has to live in constant fear and trepidation, because you are under surveillance 24 hours a day."

The book also extends its discussion to historical events involving the CCP's senior leadership. Chapters such as Power Struggles Within the CCP After June Fourth and The Southern Tour and the Coup analyse changes in the balance of power at the highest levels. The "Cycle Law" of CCP Dictatorship examines the succession dilemma and the concentration of power in the hands of one individual. The final chapter, How Does a Rebellious Spirit Come into Being?, looks back on Cheng Xiaonong's personal experiences and the evolution of his thinking.

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