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The internal security unit is the unit most closely connected with the CMC. There is one general unit (總隊) in each province which is an internal security unit set up since the beginning of the PAP. Beijing is the only exception with two general units. Mobile units are part of the internal security units; they have been organized step by step, expanding into the different provinces. The guard unit has a branch at every administrative level under the public security department or bureau, and is responsible for the safety of the leaders and the country's foreign guests. The task of the special police is to deal with terrorists and rioters, and in 1982 a Special Police School was set up in Beijing.

The other units where PAP soldiers are border patrolmen, firemen, transport engineers, forest rangers, and gold miners are controlled by the Ministry of Public Security and other relevant ministries. Their link with the CMC seems to be less important than for the units dealing with internal security and public security issues. The gold exploration unit, organized 19 years ago, reportedly has excavated 600 tons of gold, but this year the troops have been strategically reorganized to better carry out their four main duties: geological surveys, mining, engineering, and production and management. The hydroelectric projects unit is working on the building sites of the Three Gorges Dam and other waterworks. The traffic unit is digging tunnels for new railroads in Western and Southwestern China.

Locally, these latter units may come under the supervision of the local government. In Tianjin, for example, the fire fighting unit and border defense unit are subject to the same "appearance standards" (形象標準) imposed upon the police by the city government. These standards define the behavior policemen must follow in carrying out their functions. In 1995, the PAP fire fighting unit in Shenyang (瀋陽) municipality became the "Shenyang Municipality Fire Fighting Bureau" (消防局) making it a PAP unit which is also a branch of the city government. This new arrangement quickly spread throughout Liaoning province. As a result, the local governments' budget for the PAP's fire fighting unit increased by ten million yuan.

The border defense unit may be the second largest unit in the PAP, following the internal security unit. Between 1991 and 1995, it arrested 11,000 smugglers, and confiscated 2 million cases of cigarettes, 5,977 cars, and 146,000 electronic goods, worth 5.1 billion yuan. It detained 5,957 illegal emigrants trying to go overseas, 12,584 illegal emigrants to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and arrested 1,126 persons smuggling illegal emigrants. In recent years, most of the new PAP units have been border defense units. For example, on September 19, 1995, a "PAP Border Defense Command School" was opened in Hohhot (呼和浩特); in 1993, a Border Defense General Unit was set up in Henan; and in 1996, a Border General Defense Unit for Public Security was established in Tibet.