Cruel Enforcer of the CCP: Sun Lijun
编辑：胡丽莉 李聪玲 责任编辑：罗志飞 鲁慧文
孙力军，男，1971年1月出生于山东青岛，曾任中华人民共和国公安部副部长，是中共政法系统内的重要人物之一，长期负责国家安全、情报、维稳、反邪教及涉港涉外事务。
他于2006年调入公安部，成为时任公安部长孟建柱的秘书，迅速跻身政法系统核心圈层，任公安部办公厅副主任、公安部一局（国保局）局长、公安部情报局局长等要职。
2015年，孙力军任职期间，公安部一局牵头实施了骇人听闻的“709大抓捕”，孙力军在此事件上负有关键责任。此次行动对全国维权律师、异议人士和宗教活动人士的大规模打压，逮捕、羁押和审讯维权律师及其助理、家属。据多份人权报告和受害者反映，被捕人员在秘密地点被“指定居所监视居住”达数月之久，监视居住期间遭受各种形式虐待。公安系统甚至安排多名被捕律师在央视“认罪”以制造震慑。
其任职期间，公安部建立并强化全国“维稳信息化平台”，推广“社会治安防控体系”和“情报主导警务”，扩大对访民、异见人士、法轮功学员、地下基督教团体等群体的监控和打压。2016年以后，孙力军兼任公安部港澳台事务办公室主任、中央港澳工作协调小组成员，主导香港“占中”后的情报清查工作，采用各种手段限制香港民主派人士的行动。
2018年起，孙力军升任公安部副部长，负责国家安全、情报、港澳台事务及涉外安全。他指示将“指定居所监视居住”从“办案需要”常态化为“维稳工具”，广泛用于非公开拘押、秘密审讯。孙力军被指参与或批准多起案件中对嫌疑人施加非人道手段，例如对异议作家、维权律师使用“轮班审讯”、“长时间坐铁椅”、“饮食控制”、“强迫药物注射”等方式获取口供。
2020年初疫情爆发期间，孙力军曾赴武汉“维稳”，医务人员和志愿者被公安约谈、拘留，部分“造谣”者遭网络追捕。公安系统封锁了多起有关医院超负荷、尸体堆积、方舱管理失控的视频和信息，调动网络警察删除大量社交媒体内容。
除内地行动外，孙力军长期参与跨境监控与渗透。其主导建立的海外“涉华敏感人员数据库”覆盖近百个国家的异议者、维权组织、法轮功团体、台湾独立人士、藏人、维吾尔流亡社群等，针对性骚扰、威胁家属、冻结汇款、诱捕回国的案件，这些案件是公安部一局与国安系统联动团队操作，孙力军是核心决策者。
孙力军因涉嫌受贿、操纵证券市场、非法持有枪支等罪名，于2022年9月被判处死缓，终身监禁，不得减刑或假释。他的落马被广泛认为与中共高层内部权力斗争有关。
孙立军的所作所为受到美国、欧盟等多国政府和国际人权组织的严厉谴责。此外，他所在的公安部部分高层官员因涉港及打压异议行为，被美国和欧盟列入制裁名单。
Cruel Enforcer of the CCP: Sun Lijun
Edited by Hu Lili & Li Congling | Chief Editors: Luo Zhifei, Lu Huiwen Translator: Lu Huiwen
Sun Lijun, born in January 1971 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, is a former Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Public Security and a key figure in the CCP’s political-legal (政法) apparatus. He was long responsible for national security, intelligence, stability maintenance, anti-cult operations, and affairs related to Hong Kong and foreign relations.
In 2006, Sun was transferred to the Ministry of Public Security, serving as the secretary to then-Minister Meng Jianzhu. He quickly ascended to the core circle of the political-legal system, holding key posts such as Deputy Director of the General Office of the Ministry, Director of the First Bureau (Domestic Security Bureau), and later Director of the Intelligence Bureau.
During his tenure, Sun Lijun played a central role in orchestrating the infamous “709 Crackdown” in 2015. This sweeping operation—led by the First Bureau—targeted human rights lawyers, dissidents, and religious activists across China. Victims were detained, interrogated, and in many cases, forcibly disappeared or held under “residential surveillance at a designated location” for months. Numerous reports and survivor accounts revealed widespread torture and inhumane treatment during this period. The Ministry of Public Security, under Sun’s direction, also arranged forced televised confessions by several detained lawyers to spread fear and suppress dissent.
Under Sun’s leadership, the Ministry expanded the “Stability Maintenance Information Platform”, promoted the “Social Security Grid System”, and implemented intelligence-led policing nationwide. These mechanisms intensified surveillance and suppression of petitioners, dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, underground Christian groups, and other targeted populations.
From 2016 onward, Sun concurrently served as Director of the Ministry’s Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs Office and as a member of the CCP’s Central Coordination Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs. He directed intelligence operations following the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, employing various methods to monitor and restrict pro-democracy figures.
In 2018, Sun was promoted to Vice Minister of Public Security, taking charge of national security, intelligence, Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan policy, and foreign-related security. He institutionalized the use of “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL) as a routine tool of repression rather than a procedural necessity. This covert detention system became a method of extrajudicial incarceration and secret interrogation.
Sun was accused of sanctioning or participating in brutal tactics in multiple political cases, including:
• Rotating interrogators over long hours
• Prolonged confinement in “tiger chairs”
• Food deprivation
• Forced drug injections
These methods were used to extract confessions from dissident writers, rights lawyers, and other political prisoners.
During the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, Sun Lijun was dispatched to Wuhan to enforce stability measures. Under his watch, medical workers and volunteers were interrogated or detained, and many accused of “spreading rumors” were tracked online. The Public Security Bureau systematically censored videos and reports exposing overwhelmed hospitals, bodies piling up, and chaotic conditions in quarantine centers, while cyber police deleted massive amounts of content from social media platforms.
Beyond domestic operations, Sun Lijun led transnational surveillance and infiltration campaigns. He oversaw the establishment of an overseas “sensitive individuals database,” which tracked dissidents, human rights organizations, Falun Gong groups, Taiwanese independence activists, Tibetan exiles, and Uyghur diaspora communities across nearly 100 countries. These operations included:
• Harassment and intimidation of family members in China
• Freezing of remittances
• Online threats
• Entrapment schemes to lure activists back to China
Such actions were coordinated by the First Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security in conjunction with state security organs, with Sun Lijun as a central decision-maker.
In September 2022, Sun Lijun was sentenced to death with reprieve, with lifetime imprisonment without the possibility of parole or sentence reduction, for charges including bribery, manipulating the securities market, and illegal possession of firearms. His downfall is widely regarded as part of an internal power struggle within the CCP.
Sun’s actions have been condemned by the governments of the United States, the European Union, and multiple international human rights organizations. Several senior officials in the Ministry of Public Security, including Sun himself, have been sanctioned by the U.S. and EU for their roles in suppressing dissent and violating human rights, particularly in relation to Hong Kong and domestic persecution campaigns.
