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Li Kenong (; 1899–1962) was a Chinese general and politician, one of the creators of the security and intelligence apparatus of both the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army. Notably, he served as Director of the Central Investigation Department, Deputy Chief of the PLA General Staff Department and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs China, People's Republic of, in Richard Bennett Espionage: Spies and Secrets, 2012 and was awarded the rank of Shang Jiang in 1955.
Beginning in 1929, under the direct order of Zhou Enlai, Li Kenong used a fake name, Li Zetian, when working inside the KMT in Shanghai. Li's work inside the KMT specialized in radio communications and cryptography. Li excelled in his work and was promoted to the section head at Shanghai. Throughout his career as a Communist mole Li took pains to pass all information of interest to the Communists.
In late April 1931, Gu Shunzhang, Zhou's chief aide in security affairs, was arrested in Wuhan. After his capture, Gu was subjected to heavy torture. Gu had strong connections with the Shanghai mafia and had shallow communist convictions. In order to save himself, Gu informed the KMT about covert CCP organizations in Wuhan, leading police to arrest and execution of over ten leading Communist leaders in the city. Gu then informed his captors that he would only inform the KMT about CCP activities in Shanghai if he could give the information directly to Chiang Kai-shek. The two-day transfer of Gu to Shanghai gave CCP intelligence two days to rescue most of their agents.Barnouin and Yu 46-47
On April 25, 1931, Qian Zhuangfei, another one of Zhou's agents planted in the Kuomintang intelligence agency headquartered at Nanjing, who was directly under Li's control, saw the message from Wuhan announcing Gu's capture. Qian held the message from distribution while he sent his son-in-law from Nanjing to notify Li in Shanghai. Li immediately attempted to inform CCP leaders of Gu's capture, but was not able to contact the officer in charge of CCP intelligence, Chen Geng. Li decided to break protocol instructing agents not to contact their liaisons outside of established times. Li went to look for Chen in numerous places and eventually found him, reporting the capture of Gu.
Li and Chen informed Zhou Enlai, who arranged an emergency evacuation of as many CCP members as possible from their hiding places in Shanghai. Hundreds of Zhou's agents were thus saved, but not all.Barnouin and Yu 47 Li's open attempts to contact Gu and Zhou destroyed his "cover", and marked the end of Li Kenong's ability to serve as a clandestine member of the KMT secret police. Following his work in Shanghai, Li fled to Mao Zedong's base in Jiangxi.
Li was later appointed the head of the CCP's Jiangxi Protection Branch ( Zhengzhi Baowei Fenju), executive director ( Zhixing Buzhang) of Political Protection for the Chinese Soviet, and Chief of the Red Army Political Protection Bureau. Upon arrival in Shaanxi at the end of the Long March, Li became the chief of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1936, after the Xi'an Incident, he was appointed as Secretary in charge of the CCP delegation based there. During the Xi'an Incident, Li served for the first time as a principal negotiator, roles that he would repeat later on in Panmunjom (1952–3) and Geneva (1954).
During the Chinese Civil War, Li Kenong continued to personally take charge of decoding intelligence. Agents under Li's direction achieved great success with planting moles inside the numerous KMT forces and agencies. Because of Li's work, KMT messages were deciphered and read by Communist commanders, sometimes before being sent to KMT army commanders on the battlefield.
On August 9, 1949, the SAD was formally abolished: after the establishment of the PRC on October 1, 1949, the SAD's internal security and domestic counter-intelligence work was assigned to the Ministry of Public Security, headed by General Luo Ruiqing. Li Kenong continued to serve as head of a reconstituted political and military intelligence apparatus, following instructions from Mao indicating that "Li Kenong will look after Li Kenong's business." Li became Secretary of the Central Committee's Intelligence Commission, a Deputy Foreign minister, and Director of the General Intelligence Department.
In 1955 Li was made Colonel-General in the PLA and Director of the CCP Central Investigation Department, which consolidated all Chinese foreign intelligence efforts into one central department. In recognition of his long service, in 1956 Li was elected to full membership of the CCP Central Committee.
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