China.org.cn | November 5, 2023
Speakers:
Mr. Wang Zhizhong, vice minister of public security
Mr. Yang Xin, director of the Research Office of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS)
Mr. Qiu Baoli, director general of the Bureau of Public Security Management of the MPS
Mr. Li Jiantao, director general of the Bureau of Food and Drug Crime Investigation of the MPS
Chairperson:
Mr. Chen Wenjun, director general of the Press Bureau of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and spokesperson of the SCIO
Date:
Oct. 24, 2023
Chen Wenjun:
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO). This is the 27th briefing in the series "Embarking on the New Journey — A Government Perspective." Today, we have invited Mr. Wang Zhizhong, vice minister of public security, to brief you on the topic of "safeguarding public safety to ensure high-quality development," and take your questions. Also joining us today are Mr. Yang Xin, director of the Research Office of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS); Mr. Qiu Baoli, director general of the Bureau of Public Security Management of the MPS; and Mr. Li Jiantao, director general of the Bureau of Food and Drug Crime Investigation of the MPS.
Now, I will give the floor to Mr. Wang Zhizhong.
Wang Zhizhong:
Thank you, Mr. Chen. Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning. I would like to express my gratitude for your interest in and support for the work concerning public security. I will now brief you on the related progress we have made.
Since the beginning of this year, under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the public security system across the nation has focused closely on the main task of implementing the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and striving for the modernization of public security work. It has worked to both pursue development and safeguard security and adhered to a holistic approach to national security. It has also adhered to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and spared no effort to prevent risks, safeguard security, ensure stability and foster growth. As a result, a safe and stable political and social environment has been created, setting the stage for the building of a modern socialist country in all respects.
First, the MPS has comprehensively strengthened absolute Party leadership over the public security work. The MPS has arranged training sessions on the public security system across the country to study and implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and develop a strong sense of loyalty. In accordance with the general requirement of "grasping guiding principles, enhancing Party consciousness, emphasizing practices and making new progress," the MPS has taken a holistic approach to advance theoretical study, carry out investigation and research, promote development, conduct inspections and rectifications, and introduce regulations. It has also delivered more substantial and concrete outcomes from the theoretical study programs on implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The MPS has strictly implemented the "top agenda" system which prioritizes the study of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important remarks and instructions, and put into practice regulations such as the system for requesting instructions and submitting reports, in a bid to ensure unimpeded implementation of policies and decisions. The MPS has formulated a five-year plan for the inspection arrangements of its Party committee, improved its system of political inspection and investigation, and ensured absolute Party leadership over every aspect and process in the public security work.
Second, the MPS has resolutely safeguarded the country's political security. It has made coordinated efforts in operations against infiltration, subversion and cults, while carrying out related online operations, in a bid to resolutely safeguard the security of China's state power, systems and ideology. The MPS has also launched fights against terrorism and separatism in accordance with the law, continuously advanced management efforts at the source, and strengthened international counter-terrorism cooperation. As a result, the country has seen growing momentum in countering terrorism and separatism.
Third, the MPS has spared no effort to maintain social stability. The MPS launched a campaign in the summer to ensure public safety, and has taken legal actions to crack down on criminal activities that are of greatest concern to the public, such as those involving guns, explosives, pornography, gambling, drugs, food, medicine, the environment, theft, robbery and fraud. The MPS has carried out campaigns to combat and root out organized crime in a regular manner, with 1,169 mafia-like organizations and criminal groups broken up and 11,381 suspects arrested. The MPS has cracked down on telecom and cyber fraud, with 689,000 cases handled. It has also resolutely combated and curbed serious violent crime, and the homicide clearance rate has remained at 99.9%. In addition, the MPS has been fighting cybercrime in accordance with the law, handled 55,000 related cases, and created a safe and clean cyberspace. From January to September, the number of public security cases and criminal cases nationwide saw year-on-year decreases of 1.9% and 1.2%, respectively.
Fourth, the MPS has strengthened public security management in an all-round manner. The MPS has launched a campaign to create demonstration cities for crime prevention and control systems, and continued to enhance the safety and strengthen risk prevention efforts on transportation routes such as railway lines, civil airlines, maritime transport, subway lines and bus routes. The MPS has further carried out a special program targeting transport accidents, reducing the number of deaths while preventing and controlling the number of severe accidents. As a result, the number of road accidents and fatalities fell by 9.8% and 21.7% year on year, respectively, and there have been no major accidents for 45 consecutive months.
Fifth, we have stepped up efforts to ensure high-quality economic and social development. Taking the building of a high-standard socialist market economy as our priority, we have committed to cracking down on all kinds of economic crimes. We investigated 114,000 cases of economic crimes from January to September, with 18.37 billion yuan of economic losses being recovered. We have also advanced "National Sword" actions to investigate more than 4,600 smuggling cases, with a total value of 112.99 billion yuan being involved. In the effort to build a beautiful China, we investigated 53,000 criminal cases concerning environmental and resource protection, with more than 4,800 cases related to illegally occupying farmland. In order to better serve major strategies of the Party and the country, we also formulated a series of measures to ensure high-quality development and put in place a batch of new policies to better serve the public and enterprises, benefiting hundreds of millions of people. Over 20 billion yuan has been saved for individuals and enterprises in terms of traffic management thanks to such convenient measures. Moreover, the MPS continued to implement the Internet Plus Government Services initiative, ensuring that 58.2% of matters can be dealt with in person without the need for a second trip, while 36.9% can be totally resolved online.
Sixth, we have advanced the building of a public security team with ironclad conviction, commitment, competence, and discipline. We have stepped up efforts to implement the strategy of strengthening the police force through reform and advanced development of grassroots infrastructure. Moreover, we accelerated the building of an smart public security system and advanced a three-year action plan to strengthen the police force through technology so as to significantly improve the efficiency of the public security organs. We also strengthened management of our team, and made consistent and sustained efforts in improving its conduct. Stepped-up efforts have been made to intensify supervision and discipline enforcement, and education and rectification campaigns have been carried out among officials in a coordinated manner. We intensified police force training under combat conditions on a regular basis, and implemented various supporting measures to improve cohesiveness and morale of the police team.
Moreover, the MPS has implemented the important instructions made by General Secretary Xi Jinping, including the guiding principles of promoting well-coordinated environmental conservation and avoiding excessive development, and further promoting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt to better support and serve Chinese modernization. As such, I'd like to share with you the positive results we have achieved to crack down on illegal fishing and sand mining in the Yangtze River basin. The MPS set up a leading group for the well-coordinated protection of the Yangtze River, and launched a three-year campaign in 2020 to crack down on illegal fishing crimes in the Yangtze River basin and to ensure a peaceful Yangtze River. We have dealt with over 20,000 criminal cases related to illegal fishing and seized more than 900,000kg of catches and over 3,500 vessels. By doing so, a healthy trend is gathering steam in the recovery of aquatic biological resources in the Yangtze River. We also further advanced the special campaign to crack down on illegal sand mining in the Yangtze River and improved the sand mining management cooperation mechanism in the river, which has effectively curbed large-scale illegal sand mining crimes.
Going forward, the public security organs across the nation will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress. We will remain true to our original aspiration and founding mission, have the courage to take on responsibilities, and work hard to promote the modernization of work related to public security. We will step up efforts to advance the Peaceful China Initiative and build the rule of law in China so as to safeguard China's new development pattern with a new security architecture and ensure high-quality development with a high level of security.
That's all for my introduction. Thank you.
