China expands police presence in countryside

China is deploying more police in its rural regions following a government call to build a peaceful countryside, a senior police officer said here Monday.

More than 30,000 police stations have been built in rural regions as the government reorganizes larger police stations and redeploys police officers to "frontier grass roots" rural regions, said Public Security Vice-Minister Liu Jinguo.

Police have been researching the public security situation in villages, safeguarding social order and taking preventive measures against possible security incidents, he said at a meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security.

The move comes as Chinese leaders insist on the need to build a harmonious society that will transform its vast rural regions, home to 900 million farmers, into a new socialist countryside where public order is guaranteed.

"Overall, the public safety situation in rural regions across the country is stable," said Liu.

The Ministry of Public Security claimed that 17,900 mass participation incidents were handled nationwide in the first nine months of the year, down 22.1 percent on the same period last year.

The number of criminal cases investigated by police around the country also fell in the first nine months of the year by 1.2 percent to 3.34 million.

But Liu warned that China's fast urbanization poses public security concerns in areas bordering urban regions and in relatively developed parts of the countryside, saying "the basis for stability is not solid".

During the first nine months this year, 385,000 farmers were involved in "mass incidents" and 8,031 murders reported in rural regions.

The official ordered local police forces to conduct research on factors affecting stability in the countryside, and take appropriate measures to prevent violent crimes and mass incidents.

Mass incidents should be properly handled to guard against intensifying social contradictions, he said.

Luo Gan, secretary of the committee and member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee demanded that rural police pay special attention to the threat posed by "mafia-like evil forces" in cracking down on rural crimes.

Source: Xinhua