Xu Yongyue is a retired Chinese intelligence officer who served as the second Minister of State Security (MSS) from March 1998 to August 2007. A princeling born to Communist Party (CCP) elite, Xu rose to prominence after serving over a decade as private secretary (mishu) to Chen Yun, the most senior of the Eight Elders and the leading hard-liner of late 20th century China. After nine years as Minister of State Security, Xu's career ended unceremoniously in 2007 amid a number of scandals, most prominently a sex scandal which ensnared several senior party officials. The tightening of Sino-Russian intelligence cooperation is regarded as his most notable contribution. He has been accused of corruption, and involvement in human rights abuses including directing the persecution of religious minorities, extrajudicial killings, and executions of prisoners of conscience by organ harvesting.

The Ministry of State Security is the principal civilian intelligence, security and secret police agency of the People's Republic of China, responsible for foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). One of the largest and most secretive intelligence organizations in the world, it is headquartered in the Haidian District of Beijing, with powerful semi-autonomous branches at the provincial, city, municipality and township levels throughout China.