Sun Yaoheng (4th from left in front row)

Sun Yaoheng, who migrated to South Africa at a very young age, is the first Chinese police chief and a 10-year city councilor of the South African municipality.

Sun and some hundred police undertook the security work during the BRICS Summit 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Before that, the police system had made an effort to improve local public security for two years.

In 2016, Sun was appointed as the police chief of Johannesburg, who is also the first Chinese in this position. Sun said that he is now in charge of the city’s police, firefighting, disaster rescue and traffic control system, with over 7,600 staff in total.

After taking over, Sun focused on fighting police corruption first, and implemented several action plans to improve traffic control and firefighting.

Johannesburg was once known for its high crime rates, gaining a “crime capital” reputation around the world, but Sun made it a safer place. For two years in a row, Johannesburg has not been included amongst the top 50 most violent cities of the world list produced by a Mexican authority in the criminal justice system.

Sun usually sent his colleagues to China for short-term exchanges and trainings. In May 2018, Sun lead a delegation to Shenzhen in south China to learn from the local police force regarding good practices for ensuring city security, while six senior police officers went to central China’s Wuhan to attend trainings on city security and video monitoring networks, by means of which the South African civil servants could get up to date impressions regarding China and were able to understand more about Chinese culture.

Owing to a short period of immigration history, Chinese as a minority in South Africa could feel the challenges of survival and development. As the only Chinese city councilor and police chief in the country, Sun has been trying his best to create an excellent environment for more people and future generations.