Editing Secret police (section)

=== Asia ===
==== China ====
In [[East Asia]], the [[Embroidered Uniform Guard]] ({{zh|t=錦衣衞|p=Jǐnyīwèi}}) of the [[Ming dynasty]] was founded in the 1360s by the [[Hongwu Emperor]] and served as the dynasty's secret police until the [[Transition from Ming to Qing|collapse of Ming rule]] in 1644. Originally, their main functions were to serve as the emperor's bodyguard and to spy on his subjects and report any plots of rebellion or regicide directly to the emperor. Over time, the organization took on law enforcement and judicial functions and grew to be immensely powerful, with the power to overrule ordinary judicial rulings and to investigate, interrogate, and punish anyone, including members of the imperial family. In 1420, a second secret police organization run by eunuchs, known as the [[Eastern Depot]] ({{zhi|t=東廠|p=Dōng Chǎng}}), was formed to suppress suspected political opposition to the usurpation of the throne by the [[Yongle Emperor]]. Combined, these two organizations made the Ming dynasty one of the world's first [[police state]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Beyond Suffering: Recounting War in Modern China|date=2011|publisher=UBC Press|author1=James A. Flath |author2=Norman Smith |isbn=9780774819558|location=Vancouver|oclc=758370695}}</ref>

The [[Ministry of State Security (China)|Ministry of State Security]] ({{zhi|s=国家安全部|p=Guójiā Ānquán Bù}}) in modern China controls a network of provincial and local State Security Bureaus, integrated with local [[Public security bureau (China)|Public Security Bureaus]] which make up part of the policing system of China. The MSS has its own branch of the People's Police, known as the [[State Security Police]], with officers which have the dual tasks of law enforcement and repressing political dissent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Crime and Policing in China {{!}} Office of Justice Programs |url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/crime-and-policing-china |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=www.ojp.gov}}</ref> State security bureaus and public security bureaus are functionally co-located within the same buildings as each other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bishop |first=Bill |title=MSS goes with "People's Leader 人民领袖"; Dual circulation; US South China Sanctions; Missile tests; TikTok |url=https://sinocism.com/p/mss-goes-with-peoples-leader-dual |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=sinocism.com |language=en|url-access=subscription}}{{Self-published source|date=November 2024|expert=y|reason=This Substack appears to be written by a recognized China specialist}} </ref> The MSS and the [[Ministry of Public Security (China)|Ministry of Public Security]] control the overall national police network of China and the two agencies share resources and closely coordinate with each other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=greatcharlie |date=2020-11-23 |title=Commentary: Maintaining the Harmony between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of State Security in an Apparent Totalitarian China |url=https://greatcharlie.com/2020/11/23/commentary-maintaining-the-harmony-between-the-ministry-of-public-security-and-the-ministry-of-state-security-in-an-apparent-totalitarian-china/ |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=greatcharlie |language=en}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=December 2023}}

====Hong Kong====

In [[British Hong Kong]], the [[Special Branch (Hong Kong)|Special Branch]] was established in 1934 originally as an [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] squad under [[MI5]] with assistance from [[MI6]].<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/02684527.2017.1289695|title = MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia: Examining the performance of Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE), 1946–1963| journal=Intelligence and National Security| volume=32| issue=6| pages=797–816|year = 2017|last1 = Shaw|first1 = Alexander Nicholas|s2cid = 73533752| url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/111406/10/MI5%20and%20the%20Cold%20War%20in%20South%20East%20Asia%20examining%20the%20performance%20of%20Security%20Intelligence%20Far%20East%20SIFE%201946%201963.pdf| doi-access=free}}</ref> The branch later joined the Crime Department of the [[Royal Hong Kong Police Force]] in 1946 and focused on preventing [[Pro-ROC camp|pro-KMT rightists]] and [[Pro-Beijing camp (Hong Kong)|pro-CCP leftists]] from infiltrating the colony.<ref>{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602202202/http://www.scmp.com/article/998947/kmt-spies-infiltrated-colonial-police|url=http://www.scmp.com/article/998947/kmt-spies-infiltrated-colonial-police|title=KMT spies infiltrated colonial police|last=Seawright|first=Stephen|access-date=21 January 2013|archive-date=2 June 2014|newspaper=South China Morning Post|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The [[National Security Department]] in the current [[Government of Hong Kong|HKSAR]] is a secret police agency created after the enactment of the [[2020 Hong Kong national security law|Hong Kong National Security Law]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-01 |title=【最新】警務處已設國家安全處作國安法執法部門 |url=https://news.now.com/home/local/player?newsId=396365 |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=Now 新聞 |language=zh-hk}}</ref> The NSD has accused and arrested dissenting voices in Hong Kong for "endangering" the national security, including [[Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong)|pro-democracy]] politicians, protestors, and journalists.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ho |first=Kelly |date=2021-02-02 |title=Hong Kong police have arrested 97 under national security law, as commissioner rejects complaints of 'white terror' |url=http://hongkongfp.com/2021/02/02/hong-kong-police-have-arrested-97-under-national-security-law-as-commissioner-rejects-complaints-of-white-terror/ |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=Hong Kong Free Press HKFP |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hong Kong jails man, 24, for nine years under national security law {{!}} Hong Kong {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/30/hong-kong-jails-man-24-nine-years-under-national-security-law-tong-ying-kit |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=amp.theguardian.com|date=30 July 2021 }}</ref> Some websites were also reportedly banned by the department, including [[Hong Kong Watch]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-14 |title=Hong Kong Watch website blocked by internet firms in Hong Kong |url=https://www.hongkongwatch.org/all-posts/2022/2/14/hong-kong-watch-website-blocked-by-internet-firms-in-hong-kong |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=Hong Kong Watch |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==== Iraq ====
In the [[Middle East]], located in Baghdad. [[Shurta]] was one of the most both powerful intelligence and secret police organizations of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid era]] which was led by the [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasids]] in the 8th and 9th centuries during the [[Islamic Golden Age|Golden Age of Islam]].

==== Japan ====
In Japan, the [[Kenpeitai]] existed from 1881 to 1945 and were described as secret police by the [[Australian War Memorial]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Stolen Years: Australian Prisoners of War|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/stolenyears/ww2/japan/sandakan/index.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121014148/https://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/stolenyears/ww2/japan/sandakan/index.asp|archive-date=2010-01-21|access-date=2021-02-09|website=[[Australian War Memorial]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=MEMBERS OF THE KENPEITAI (JAPANESE SECRET POLICE) AND THE HIKARI KIKAN (JAPANESE MILITARY POLICE) ...|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C22331|access-date=2021-02-09|website=www.awm.gov.au|language=en}}</ref> It had an equivalent branch in the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] known as the [[Tokubetsu Keisatsutai|Tokkeitai]]. However, their civilian counterpart known as the [[Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu|Tokkō]] was formed in 1911. Its task consisted of controlling political groups and ideologies in [[Imperial Japan]], resembling closer the other secret police agencies of the time period. For this it earned the nickname "the Thought Police".<ref name="beasley184">W.G. Beasley, ''The Rise of Modern Japan'', p. 184, {{ISBN|0-312-04077-6}}.</ref><ref>[[Edwin P. Hoyt]], ''Japan's War'', p. 113. {{ISBN|0-07-030612-5}}.</ref>

==== South Korea ====
The [[National Intelligence Service (South Korea)#Korean Central Intelligence Agency|Korean Central Intelligence Agency]] or KCIA is a secret police agency which acted extra-judicially and was involved in such activities as kidnapping a presidential candidate and the [[assassination of Park Chung-hee]], among other things.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Halloran|first=Richard|date=1973-08-20|title=Seoul's Vast Intelligence Agency Stirs Wide Fear (Published 1973)|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/20/archives/seouls-vast-intelligence-agency-stirs-wide-fear-politician-spirited.html|access-date=2021-02-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Chapman|first=William|date=1979-10-30|title=Army Seizes KCIA Reins|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/10/30/army-seizes-kcia-reins/b4d4d59b-775f-4053-b3f1-849fdcece020/|access-date=2021-02-09|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

==== Syria ====
The [[General Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|General Intelligence Directorate]] or the GID was the secret police organization of the [[Al-Assad family|Assad regime]] which ruled [[Syria]] that suppressed the people until it disbanded in December 2024 during the [[Syrian revolution|Syrian Revolution]] with a popular uprising against the dictator [[Bashar al-Assad]] when he fled to [[Russia]] that night.

==== Taiwan ====
In Taiwan, the [[National Security Bureau (Taiwan)|National Security Bureau]], established in 1954, is the regime's main intelligence agency. The [[Taiwan Garrison Command]] acted as a secret police/national security body which existed as a branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The agency was established at the end of World War II and operated throughout the Cold War. It was disbanded on 1 August 1992. It was responsible for suppressing activities viewed as promoting democracy and Taiwan independence.