The Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs Advises on Countermeasures in the Battle against Gangsters and Advancing it to a New Level
As reported by Chinapeace (http://www.chinapeace.org.cn/, the website of the Central Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs), the Committee on Political and Legislative Affairs recently published an article “Advice on the Battle against Gangsters and Advancing it to a New Level.” It was said in the article that all the relevant departments in all areas must continue to do well in everything relating to this battle; they must maintain a high and attacking position against gangsters and make sure that the battle is advancing to a deeper level.
We have heard that since this battle was officially announced in February 2006, relevant departments in all areas have used various effective ways and have dealt a great blow to the gangsters’ criminal activities. As of today, 1,221 gang organizations have been eliminated, 12,850 other evil forces (groups) have been eliminated, 87,396 suspects related to these criminal activities have been captured, 104,610 various types of criminal cases have been pursued, and 2,586 different kinds of guns have been confiscated.
The committee pointed out that gangsters are still very active and, in the near future, there will be a lot of criminal activities. Especially since we are affected by the economic crisis, the number of pessimistic factors and social conflicts has obviously been increasing. This, to some degree, contributes to the growth and development of gangsters. In this situation, further continuing the battle against gangsters is a realistic need in order to actively deal with their new directions and changes and to maintain the stability of society. It is also a requirement in order to prevent the gangsters growth in the economic field and for the economy to develop well and quickly. Lastly it is a strategic decision to prevent the gangsters from penetrating the political world and to strengthen the Chinese Communist Party’s dictatorship position in China.
The committee pointed out that we must raise our understanding and pay close attention to those who are in leadership positions. Different levels of the Communist Party Committee members and different levels of governments need to take on the political responsibility of cracking down on gangsters, and effectively strengthening the leadership for the battle against these criminal forces. They must show a clear position in supporting this battle and eliminate resistance in the political law departments. They must care and support the development of different levels in the “office of battling gangsters,” and developing professional teams. They must make sure that the force is there, the money is there, and a strong momentum is there. They must insist on and perfect the responsibility system of “one leader with total responsibility,” supervision, accountability, and periodical reporting. Supervision needs to be strengthened and the system of “one vote rejection” for the social security comprehensive management (Editor’s Note: the “one vote rejection” system refers to rejecting the leader’s promotion or merit award if he does not meet the comprehensive management goal assigned to him) needs to be used well. Detailed methods such as warnings, warning conversations, yellow card warnings, and one vote rejection need to be perfected. For those who, due to their ignorance of the importance [of their work] or their ineffective work, cause gangsters to succeed in what they are doing and lead to severe consequences, one vote rejection must be used. Those advanced groups and individuals who contribute a lot in the battle against gangsters need to be rewarded. We must further propagandize the strong will of the party committee and the government in battling gangsters and create a good social environment for cracking down on gangsters.
The committee emphasizes that we must increase the force of striking and have a more clear emphasis on the targets. Relevant departments in all areas must insist on the principle of “a gangster must be eliminated and an evil force must be proscribed completely,” with each area’s own realistic situations, advancing in the work of attacking gangsters and firmly restraining the growth of gangsters. One must focus on the most important parts, and increase the force of searching and resolving. We must strike hard against those gangs that have infiltrated the areas of construction, transportation, and mining, especially those have who gotten into major national projects; we must strike hard against those gangsters who have disrupted agricultural economic growth, and control village governance; we must strike hard against those gangsters who manipulate the activities of pornography, gambling, and drug abuse and trafficking; and we must insist on fixing all the major security issues that are mainly related to the gangsters. Different levels of Discipline Supervision and Investigation departments, Communist Party Committees, and Political and Legislative Affairs Committees need to be strengthened in digging out those gangsters who are “under the umbrella (of corrupt government officials),” and coordinate and supervise this work well. They must make sure that the investigation of the “under the umbrella” cases and other criminal cases are going on at the same time. One needs to make sure to completely destroy the financial foundation of the gangsters in order to prevent them from emerging again.
The committee emphasized that we must further strengthen prevention and comprehensively treat this issue. The Communist Party Committee members and the local governments must coordinate all areas, insist on preventive issues, and resolve problems with many approaches simultaneously. We need to work hard on all areas including striking, prevention, education, transformation, management, improvement, and so on. We can integrate various types of methods, including political, economic, administrative, legal, cultural, educational, and so on, to comprehensively treat the criminal activities of the gangsters. We have to do our best to eliminate the soil that helps the gangsters grow and develop. We need to strengthen the supervision of the fields that gangsters are prone to control, including the fields of construction, transportation, mining, entertainment, and others. We need to perfect the system for allowing businesses to enter a field, and strengthen law enforcement, inspection, and supervision. We must firmly prevent phenomena such as forced demolition of people’s homes, illegal mining, business monopolies, and forced trading. The communication between the official branches, including police, justice, jails, forced labor camps, and the residential branches, such as street and community authorities, needs to be enhanced. They can closely cooperate and work with each other. This way the supervision of the people discharged from prisons and forced labor camps can be improved. We need to improve the employment assistance for special groups of people who are currently unemployed and others who just moved into the area, as well as the social security services for these people. We must actively service and manage the migrant population and also do well in crime prevention work regarding the young. We can place the battle against gangsters together with combating corruption and upholding integrity, and further reinforce the education, management, and supervision of leaders. This way we can strictly prevent the gangsters from penetrating into the party organs and government branches and prevent the gangsters from acquiring “safety umbrellas.”
The committee asked us to take another step in perfecting a long-term effective system and building a solid basis. All branches in all areas need to carefully summarize the experiences of battling gangsters and make this battle systematic, standardized, and legal, and, in a timely manner, promote this system into the actual work. We must continue to emphasize the leadership teams’ coordination and instruction and perfect the system of joint meetings among different branches. This way communication and coordination can be improved. We need to actively explore in order to construct a working mechanism between the political branches and judicial branches, and also between these two branches and other branches such as industry, commerce, taxes, construction, territory, finance, culture, and so on. This way we can form a group force, prevent crime, and fight the gangsters together. We need to look at reality, refine all the methods, and constantly perfect the supervision system regarding the processes of investigation, prosecution, trial, and enforcement against the criminals who are gangsters. We need to strengthen the professional forces of investigation, prosecution, and trial in criminal cases against gangsters and continue to work hard on constructing a special force for criminal investigation in related police and security organizations.
Meng Jianzhu: Maintain an Active Attacking Mode and Advance the Battle against Gangsters to a New Level
On July 7, 2009, the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs held a video and telephone conference on further advancement to thoroughly eliminate gangsters. Meng Jianzhu, a State Council member and a member of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs, stated that all localities and all departments must accurately understand the new trends of gangsters’ criminal activities, and take the newly encountered problems during the fight against gangsters seriously. From the attitude of maintaining social harmony and stability and consolidating the party’s ruling foundation, they should fully understand the special importance of advancing the special fight on eliminating gangsters, and earnestly strengthen job responsibility and the sense of urgency. With the spirit of being responsible to the party and the people, they should solidly advance the special fight against gangsters and greet the 60th anniversary of the new China with a fine job performance.
It is reported that since February 2006, when the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs extended the special battle against gangsters across the nation, all localities and all departments have organized carefully and arranged thoroughly to initiate swift and fierce attacks against gangsters, and have made tangible progress. The public security bureaus across the nation have investigated a total of 1,221 gangster organizations, wiped out 12,850 evil forces (groups), captured more than 87,000 suspects, investigated, and solved over 100,000 criminal cases, and seized more than 2,500 different kinds of guns; the procuratorial agencies indicted over 1,000 gangster groups; and the People’s court tried 689 gangster-related cases, all of which have powerfully suffocated the gangsters.
Meng Jianzhu pointed out that since our country is in a historic period of economic transition and social transformation, the breeding ground and the environment for gangsters still exists, and the gangster’s criminal activities are still relatively active. Under this circumstance, further promoting the fight against gangsters is necessary to positively respond to the new trends and changes in the gangsters’ crimes and to maintain social harmony and stability; is demanded in order to firmly curb the gangster’s expansion into the economic area and to serve economic development; and is needed in order to firmly prevent gangsters from infiltrating the political sphere and to consolidate the party’s governing base.
Meng Jianzhu emphasized that all localities and all departments should adhere to the “Gangsters must be eliminated; root out gangsters” principle, further strengthen various fighting jobs, and resolutely prevent the gangsters’ spread and development. They should emphasize the focus points, determine to eradicate the tyrants, adhere to the coordination of supervision, and crack down sharply on major underworld organizations. They should persist in completely wiping out, rooting out the “protective umbrella” and destroying their economic foundation. They should stick to the law, pay attention to the cases’ qualities and improve their attack technique.
Meng Jianzhu urged that all localities should be under the unified leadership of the party’s committees and governments. On one hand, they should emphasize cracking down; on the other hand, they should emphasize prevention; with political, economic, social, cultural, and other methods and means, they should integratively manage the problems of gangster’s crimes, and eradicate the ground and conditions for fostering the gangster forces to the maximum extent. He stressed that all levels of Party committees and governments should conscientiously strengthen their organization and leadership during the fight against gangsters, strictly monitor work responsibilities, focus their efforts on propaganda, earnestly strengthen the development of special forces, and ensure the advancement of the fight against gangsters.
Endnotes:
[1] Xinhua, July 29, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2009-07/29/content_11792006.htm
[2] Xinhua, July 8, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2009-07/08/content_11670845.htm