One of Xi’s top security officials has been identified – with the help of a White House guest list

One of China’s most important - and mysterious - security officials has stepped out of the shadows and been identified, thanks in part to a guest list published by the White House.

The man, a bespectacled official with a neat crew-cut who has made a handful of appearances alongside Chinese leader Xi Jinping in recent years, has long been considered by China watchers to be Zhou Hongxu, the Director of the Central Guard Bureau, an office similar to the US Secret Service.

Beijing has never publicly confirmed Zhou’s job title, and his official biography has few clarifying details.

It was only when the White House published a list of Chinese guests and their official titles for the recent state banquet hosted by US President Donald Trump for Xi that Zhou’s official position was finally confirmed.

His presence at such a high-stakes diplomatic engagement shines a light on a coterie of younger generation party cadres and security figures that have become some of Xi’s most trusted aides, with the ruling Communist Party’s next national congress that often decides key leadership positions now just a year away.

In footage broadcast by state broadcaster Chinese Central Television, Zhou could be seen among guests at the state banquet wearing a buttoned-up Mao suit and standing just behind US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Zhou also made a rare high profile diplomatic appearance earlier this month when Xi he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. He could be seen sitting between China’s two vice ministers of foreign affairs, according to official footage , although state media did not identify him despite his prominent visibility.

Analysts said Zhou’s increased public appearances are noteworthy.

“Zhou might be the first ever top security guard being involved in such high-profile diplomatic talk, as far as publicly documented appearances are concerned,” Deng Yuwen, a former deputy editor of the Study Times, the official publication of the party’s top training institute, told CNN.

Deng said Zhou’s appearance at the White House state banquet may suggest “Xi deliberately wanted to bring him into the public eye. “

“And if Xi is intentionally giving him this kind of exposure, it would suggest that he is being entrusted with greater responsibilities and may be given a more important role in the upcoming leadership reshuffle,” said Deng.

The Central Guard Bureau is one of the most secretive parts of China’s vast security apparatus.

Much like the US Secret Service, it is tasked with protecting China’s top leaders as well as the Zhongnanhai compound in the heart of Beijing where the country’s leadership resides.

Chinese state media has described the bureau as “an exceptionally unusual organization, straddling both the police and military spheres, and one that requires the deep trust of the country’s top leadership.”

The opacity surrounding Zhou has become common practice as Beijing looks to tighten information about key officials in recent years, especially those who serve Xi directly.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency has reported that he was chosen as one of the delegates to the Communist Party’s 20th National Congress in 2022, a major political gathering that cemented the political authority of Xi by granting him a precedent-breaking third term.

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

He remains a mysterious and low-profile figure domestically, and his past appearances can only be detected from fleeting state media footage when he accompanied Xi to attend major diplomatic gatherings.

But there is almost nothing about his education and background – or whether he had a career in China’s military or security services.

Older images published by Chinese state media have shown Zhou attending various events with his name card showing on the table.

When Xi held a summit with Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari in Kathmandu in October 2019, Zhou was seen sitting behind China’s leader. Zhou also accompanied Xi to the APEC summit in San Francisco in 2023.

Zhou’s predecessor was Wang Shaojun, who died in April 2023. Chinese state media, which only confirmed his death three months after the fact, cited an unspecified illness as the cause.

It was only following his death that state media confirmed his position at the time as Director of the Central Guard Bureau.

A successor has never been announced.

It is likely that, like Wang, Zhou came up through China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Zhou was seen attending inspection tour with Wang in 2018 when Xi toured the PLA’s Northern Theater Command and both Wang and Zhou were wearing military uniforms.

The Central Guard Bureau was founded in 1950 but it traces its origins back to the period of the Chinese civil war when Mao Zedong’s Communists were locked in battle with their Nationalist foes.

Its first chief, Wang Dongxing, was one of Mao personal guards. Wang’s later became the party’s vice chairman and a member of the party’s politburo standing committee.

According to a report from state-affiliated media China Net in 2014 – one of the few official articles on the bureau - its organizational structure sits within China’s Ministry of Public Security, where it is known as “Bureau 9”. But it operates independent of the ministry and answers to Xi’s cabinet.

Why Xi invited Trump to this highly secretive former imperial garden

The black box of China’s elite politics has long been a source of fascination for journalists, scholars and foreign governments alike.

Speculation and reading the tea leaves within Chinese official announcement and state media reports also tends to intensify in the run-up to major Communist Party meetings.

In October next year, the party will hold the 21st National Congress, a twice-a-decade political gathering that usually sees significant leadership reshuffles.

Most of current senior officials will be over 70 years old by then, including China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, who turns 73 next year.

Observers will watch closely for whether a younger generation of cadres will get promoted into key positions of power, especially the party’s politburo and its standing committee, the equivalent of Xi’s inner circle.

Other key younger officials who attended the White House banquet were Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, 53, Hong Lei, the 57-year-old protocol chief of China’s foreign ministry and Lu Luhua, Xi’s personal secretary, who has become a near permanent fixture for overseas visits.

中国一位最重要、也最神秘的安全官员走出幕后，身份得以公开，这在一定程度上要归功于白宫公布的一份宾客名单。

这位戴着眼镜、留着利落平头的官员，近年来曾多次与中国领导人习近平一同露面，长期以来一直被中国观察家们认为是中央警卫局局长周洪旭，中央警卫局是类似于美国特勤局的机构。

北京方面从未公开确认周的职务，他的官方简历也鲜有详细说明。

直到白宫公布了美国总统唐纳德·特朗普为习近平举办的国宴的中国宾客名单及其正式头衔后，周恩来的官方地位才最终得到确认。

他出席如此重要的外交活动，凸显了一批年轻一代的党内干部和安全人员，他们已成为习近平最信任的助手。而执政的共产党下一次全国代表大会（通常会决定关键的领导职位）距离现在只有一年时间了。

中国中央电视台播出的画面显示，周恩来身穿中山装出席国宴，站在美国国务卿马可·卢比奥身后。

本月初，周恩来罕见地高调亮相外交舞台，陪同习近平在新德里会见了印度总理莫迪。官方视频显示，他当时坐在中国两位外交部副部长之间，尽管他如此引人注目，但官方媒体并未透露他的身份。

分析人士表示，周恩来频繁公开露面值得关注。

“就公开记录在案的露面而言，周可能是第一个参与如此高规格外交会谈的高级安保人员，”中共最高培训机构官方刊物《学习时报》前副主编邓宇文告诉 CNN。

邓表示，周恩来出席白宫国宴可能表明“习近平有意让他出现在公众视野中”。

邓表示：“如果习近平有意让他获得这样的曝光机会，那就表明他被赋予了更大的责任，并且可能在即将到来的领导层改组中扮演更重要的角色。”

中央警卫局是中国庞大安全体系中最神秘的部门之一。

与美国特勤局类似，它的任务是保护中国最高领导人以及位于北京中心地带的中南海大院，中国领导人就居住在那里。

中国官方媒体将该局描述为“一个极其不寻常的机构，它横跨警察和军事领域，需要得到国家最高领导层的深切信任”。

近年来，随着北京方面加强对关键官员（尤其是直接为习近平服务的官员）的信息管控，周恩来的信息不透明已成为一种普遍做法。

中国官方新华社报道称，他被选为2022年中共二十大代表之一，这是一次重要的政治集会，通过授予习近平史无前例的第三个任期，巩固了他的政治权威。

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

他在国内一直是一位神秘而低调的人物，过去只能从他陪同习近平出席重大外交集会时官方媒体的短暂画面中才能发现他的身影。

但几乎没有关于他的教育背景和经历的信息——也没有关于他是否曾在中国军队或安全部门任职的信息。

中国官方媒体此前发布的照片​​显示，周恩来出席各种活动时，桌上都摆放着他的名牌。

2019年10月，习近平在加德满都与尼泊尔总统比迪娅·德维·班达里举行峰会时，周恩来被看到坐在习近平身后。周恩来还陪同习近平出席了2023年在旧金山举行的亚太经合组织峰会。

周的继任者是王少军，他于2023年4月去世。中国官方媒体在王少军去世三个月后才证实了他的死讯，并称其死因为一种未指明的疾病。

直到他去世后，官方媒体才证实他当时的职务是中央警卫局局长。

继任者人选至今尚未公布。

周恩来很可能和王毅一样，都是从中国人民解放军晋升上来的。2018年习近平视察解放军北部战区时，周恩来曾与王毅一同视察，当时两人都身着军装。

中央警卫局成立于 1950 年，但其起源可以追溯到中国内战时期，当时毛泽东领导的共产党与国民党军队展开了激烈的战斗。

该党首任领导人王东兴曾是毛泽东的贴身警卫。王东兴后来成为中共中央副主席和中共中央政治局常委。

据官方媒体中国网2014年的一篇报道（这是为数不多的关于该局的官方文章之一）显示，其组织结构隶属于中国公安部，被称为“九局”。但它独立于公安部运作，直接向习近平主席领导的内阁负责。

习近平为何邀请特朗普参观这座高度保密的皇家园林

中国精英政治的黑箱长期以来一直是记者、学者和外国政府共同关注的焦点。

在中共重大会议召开前夕，人们往往会更加热衷于猜测和解读中国官方公告和官方媒体报道中的蛛丝马迹。

明年10月，该党将召开第21届全国代表大会，这是每十年举行两次的政治集会，通常会进行重大的领导层改组。

届时，大多数现任高级官员都将年过七旬，其中包括明年将年满73岁的中国最高外交官王毅。

观察人士将密切关注年轻一代干部是否会被提拔到关键权力职位，特别是中共中央政治局和常委，这相当于习近平的核心圈子。

出席白宫宴会的其他重要年轻官员包括：53岁的中国外交部发言人毛宁，57岁的中国外交部礼宾司司长洪磊，以及习近平的私人秘书卢璐华，卢璐华几乎成了习近平出访时的常客。