China’s chief of domestic security has told officials to make extinguishing social unrest the top priority, warning against a return of instability in Xinjiang region ahead of the country’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
The comments from Zhou Yongkang (周永康), the Chinese Communist Party’s top law-and-order official, underscored how the government’s fears about threats to its control shape policy, even as the economy grows despite a global slump. Such fears could make policymakers averse to changes that loosen their controls.
“The steady improvement of the economy is increasingly obvious, but there are still many social conflicts driven by domestic and external factors,” Zhou told a video conference of officials on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We must take a comprehensive and strategic standpoint and clearly grasp the utmost importance of protecting social stability,” Zhou said.
Chinese officials were fearful that the global financial crisis would unleash widespread protests and unrest as growth slowed in the world’s third-biggest economy.
So far the government’s efforts to shore up growth have helped hold such scenarios at bay.
Zhou said heightened vigilance against unrest, however, must be a priority up to the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1 and that longer-term measures to enforce control must be strengthened.
He demanded more efforts to monitor and contain perceived threats.
“Party committees, government departments and units at all levels must treat protecting stability as a rigid task, truly shouldering it as a No. 1 responsibility,” Xinhua cited Zhou as saying.
“In setting policies, decisions, projects and reforms, carry out social stability risk assessments, fully soliciting public views and fully considering the impact on public interests,” he said.
Zhou said that the government would also continue to exercise tight control in Xinjiang region, where protests by Muslim Uighurs on July 5 gave way to deadly ethnic rioting that Beijing says left 197 people dead, most of them majority ethnic Han Chinese.
Police have detained 718 people suspected of involvement in the rioting, Xinhua said earlier this month.
Zhou said the government would “vigorously protect social stability in Xinjiang.”
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