|
China Vows to
Fight Against Social Evils
 By
ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China's government pledged Wednesday to
intensify the fight against what it considers social
evils ¡ª street crime and terrorism, Falun Gong (news
- web sites) and the corrupt officials that are
undermining leaders' claims of putting people first.
The country's top judge and top prosecutor, in reports
before the National People's Congress, acknowledged
the many problems that face their changing society,
but insisted the government has matters well in hand.
Chief prosecutor Jia Chunwang told legislators that in
the past year China has "resolutely attacked ethnic
separatists, religious extremists, violent terrorists,
and Falun Gong and other types of criminal organized
movements." The Falun Gong spiritual movement was
banned by the government in 1999 as an "evil cult."
Supreme Court Chief Justice Xiao Yang said
bribe-taking and other corruption persists within
China's courts, seriously hurting the legal system's
reputation.
"We will take further effective measures to increase
our supervision, strengthen our forces and spare no
efforts to solve the problem," Xiao said.
Chinese leaders fear growing anger over official
corruption might trigger unrest and threaten their
grip on power. Targeting crime ¡ª be it violence,
separatism or government corruption ¡ª is a foundation
of the government's efforts to persuade the public
that progress is at hand. Corruption is a particular
embarrassment.
"We are paying more and more attention to controlling
it," said Yu Baofa, a congressional delegate from the
eastern province of Shandong.
"The government is even willing to deal with
high-level leaders," Yu said. "It will put the person
in jail."
Xiao said six ministerial-level officials had been
sentenced in 2004 for "job-related crimes," including
a judge, a former governor from southwestern China and
a top banking official. A total of 22,986 cases of "job-related
abuse" by government officials were heard by China's
courts last year, Xiao said.
Jia said prosecutors investigated 18,515 major
corruption crimes involving 2,728 officials last year.
In some cases, prosecutors failed to deal with local
corruption cases quickly or well enough, Jia said,
promising to do more in the coming year. He vowed to "earnestly
seek a solution."
An easing of social restrictions that have helped
boost economic growth have also contributed to a sharp
rise in crime, violence and corruption in recent years.
In response, China launched a "Strike Hard" campaign
against crime in the mid-1990s and renews it
periodically.
"We will persist under the guiding principle of 'Strike
Hard' and punish severely according to the law all
manner of crimes in order to preserve national
security, social stability and the security of life
and property for the masses," Xiao said.
Courts convicted 308,183 people of such violent
offenses as murder, arson, kidnapping or what the
official Xinhua News Agency called "mafia-like
organized crime."
China's efforts against terrorism have typically meant
fighting Uighur separatists in the heavily Muslim
northwestern region of Xinjiang and keeping a tight
rein on practitioners of Falun Gong.
China stepped up its suppression of Xinjiang's
separatist movement following the Sept. 11 attacks in
the United States. The government asserts some Uighurs
maintain close ties to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaida
network.
Two years ago, the United States agreed to place a
Xinjiang independence group on its list of terrorist
organizations. But many in Xinjiang, which borders
both Pakistan and Afghanistan (news - web sites), say
their struggle for independence has no link to
international terrorism.
Similarly, while Beijing sees Falun Gong as a threat
to security and has arrested thousands of its
practitioners, activists abroad insist the group is
nonpolitical and nonviolent and has been victimized
unfairly.
|
