In September 9, 2026, Gao Qi, the Director of the Public Security Bureau of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, was promoted to the rank of Communist Party Committee Member and Counter-Terrorism Commissioner (Deputy Minister level) in the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
Gao Qi, born in August 1970 in Linxian, Lvliang City, Shanxi Province, graduated from the Xinjiang Labor Reform Police School in 1990 with a major in correctional education. He has been working in the Xinjiang public security system for a long time.
During the term of Wang Lequan as Xinjiang Party Secretary from September 1994 to April 2010, Gao Qi held various positions in the Kashgar Area Public Security Bureau in Xinjiang. In May 2009, he was promoted to Party Committee Member and Deputy Director of the Public Security Bureau of Kashgar Area, as well as Party Committee Member and Director of the Public Security Bureau of Kashgar City. At that time, Kashgar was at the forefront of so-called “anti-terrorism” efforts in Xinjiang.
Wang Lequan, who ruled Xinjiang for 15 years and was known as the “King of Xinjiang,” implemented strong measures under the guise of “anti-terrorism,” leading to frequent violent incidents and brutal crackdowns in Xinjiang. In July 2009, Xinjiang experienced the shocking “July 5 Incident,” which official reports claimed resulted in nearly 2,000 casualties.
Following the “July 5 Incident,” Wang Lequan was transferred to the position of Deputy Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China in April 2010, becoming an assistant to the then Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Zhou Yongkang. Zhou Yongkang was investigated in July 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2015.
During the term of Zhang Chunxian as Xinjiang Party Secretary from April 2010 to August 2016, Gao Qi was promoted in June 2013 to Party Committee Secretary and Director of the Public Security Bureau of Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, and in May 2016 to Member of the Party Group and Deputy Governor (Deputy Division-level) of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture Government, as well as Party Committee Secretary and Director of the Public Security Bureau of the prefecture.
Under the leadership of Chen Quanguo as Xinjiang Party Secretary from August 2016 to December 2021, Gao Qi was promoted in July 2021 to Member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Public Security Department, concurrently serving as Member of the Party Group and Deputy Governor of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the prefecture, and Party Committee Secretary and Director of the Public Security Bureau of the prefecture.
In July 2024, Gao Qi was removed from the position of Deputy Director of the Xinjiang Public Security Department, but continued to hold the positions of Deputy Governor and Director of the Public Security Bureau of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.
On December 8, 2023, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control accused a total of 20 individuals from 9 countries of human rights violations, announcing sanctions against them. Two Chinese officials involved in Xinjiang affairs were included in the list: Gao Qi, the Deputy Governor and Public Security Bureau Director of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, and Hu Lianhe, the Deputy Director of the Office of the Leading Group for Xinjiang Work of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
The US statement indicated that Gao Qi’s superior department, the Xinjiang Public Security Department, had been previously designated on the entity list and that his involvement as Deputy Governor in the repression of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim ethnic minority members in Xinjiang, led to Gao Qi and his immediate family being banned from entering the United States.
The US Treasury Department’s report revealed that in June 2018, Gao Qi stated that in Xinjiang, it was necessary to “resolutely follow Secretary Chen’s requirements, and place individuals who are not at ease in a place where they can be at ease…gradually transform them.” Following this statement, severe human rights violations, such as torture, inhumane treatment, arbitrary detention without trial, abduction, secret detention resulting in disappearances, and other egregious violations of the right to life, liberty, and personal security occurred in the Ili region.
The “Secretary Chen” mentioned by Gao Qi refers to Chen Quanguo, the Secretary of the Xinjiang Party and a member of the 19th Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, who was sanctioned by the US in July 2020.