On September 23, 2026, Yu Ping, the director of the Public Security Department of Shaanxi Province, was promoted to Vice Governor of Shaanxi Province. This move came eight months after Zhang Youxia, the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, encountered issues and Yu Ping was transferred from the Political Commissar of the Special Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security to the director of the Public Security Department of Shaanxi Province. Two days before Yu Ping’s new appointment, on September 21, 2026, Zhang Youxia was expelled from the party and the military. There have been speculations from the public regarding the involvement of the Special Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security in the arrest of Zhang Youxia, and the change of personnel in the bureau during sensitive times has led to various speculations.
According to reports from Shaanxi Net, on September 23, 2026, the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress appointed Yu Ping as the Vice Governor of Shaanxi Province.
Currently, Yu Ping also serves as the Secretary of the Party Committee, Director, and Inspector General of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department, as well as the Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Political and Legal Committee.
Public records indicate that Yu Ping, born in October 1969, previously served as a member of the Party Committee and Director of the Political Department of the Border Defense General Brigade of Heilongjiang Province, and by the first half of 2023, he held the position of Political Commissar of the Special Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security. On January 18, 2026, the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress appointed Yu Ping as the Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department; the Shaanxi Provincial Government appointed Yu Ping as the Inspector General of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department.
Publicly available information shows that the Special Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security is responsible for the security of vice-national level officials, including Vice Chairpersons of the National People’s Congress, Vice Premiers and State Councilors, Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, President of the Supreme People’s Court, and Chief Procurator of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, as well as foreign dignitaries visiting China. The security units include the organs of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the State Council, various ministries and commissions, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the National Supervisory Commission, as well as the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
The Special Police Bureau is one of the bureau-level organizations within the Ministry of Public Security of the Chinese Communist Party. In July 2019, the Ministry of Public Security first announced the organizational structure after the reform, including the establishment of the Special Police Bureau, with Wang Xiaohong, then Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, doubling as the inaugural director of the bureau. In July 2023, Wang Zhizhong succeeded Wang Xiaohong as the second director of the Special Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, after which, in July 2025, Ling Zhifeng, a member of the Party Committee and Director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Public Security, was promoted to Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security and concurrently appointed as the Director of the Special Police Bureau. Wang Zhizhong, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, began also serving as the Director of the National Immigration Administration.
After serving as the Political Commissar of the Special Police Bureau from 2023 to January 2026, Yu Ping teamed up with three successive directors of the bureau – Wang Xiaohong, Wang Zhizhong, and Ling Zhifeng.
Since Yu Ping’s transfer to the director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department, no announcement has been made regarding the new Political Commissar of the Special Police Bureau.
Yu Ping’s transfer to the director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department in January 2026 was during a sensitive period, coinciding with the approaching investigation of Zhang Youxia, the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party.
On January 20, 2026, the Chinese authorities held a “special seminar” on the Fourth Plenary Session of the Twentieth Central Committee for high-ranking provincial officials, during which Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu Zhenli, a member of the Military Commission, were notably absent, attracting public attention.
On January 24, 2026, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were officially announced to be under investigation.
Following the downfall of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, details of their arrests circulated in various versions, indicating the possible involvement of the Military Discipline Commission, Central Discipline Commission, Central Guard Bureau, and the Special Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security in the arrest operation.
External observers have questioned the timing of the change in personnel at the Special Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security during a sensitive period, indicating the bureau’s possible participation in the arrest of Zhang Youxia.
On August 28, 2026, the twenty-fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party concluded, and it was announced afterwards that Zhang Youxia was relieved of his position as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the country, while Liu Zhenli was removed as a member of the Central Military Commission. Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli, Ju Qiansheng, and Zhong Shaojun, four leaders, were also stripped of their positions as representatives of the National People’s Congress.
On September 21, 2026, following a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, Xinhua News Agency published a report titled “Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli Expelled from the Party and the Military for Serious Violations of Discipline and Law.” The report stated that the Political Bureau meeting that day deliberated and approved the review results and handling recommendations of the Central Military Commission regarding Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli.
Coincidentally, two days after Zhang Youxia was expelled from the party and the military, on September 23, 2026, Yu Ping, who had been serving as the director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department for over eight months, was appointed as the Vice Governor of Shaanxi Province.