Public welfare a priority for justice system

Xi urges law enforcement and judicial agencies to better fulfill their obligations

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has urged law enforcement and judicial agencies to better fulfill their obligations in safeguarding the country’s political security and social stability and make all-around efforts to promote justice and guarantee a safe living environment for the people.

Xi, also China’s president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the statement at a two-day central conference on political and legal work, which concluded on Wednesday.

Commending the performance of law enforcement and judicial agencies since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Xi stressed the importance of the absolute leadership of the Party over political and legal work and urged them to pursue a people-centered approach.

He called for stepping up law enforcement in key areas that concern people’s immediate interests to allow them to have better chances to enjoy blue skies, drink cleaner water, breathe cleaner air, eat safer food, have better transportation and live a more harmonious life.

The Party’s leadership and the strength of the socialist system must be leveraged to improve the efficacy of social management, Xi said.

Additional efforts must be made to crack down on gang crimes, with a focus on major cases involving mafialike crimes, and to destroy the financial support and shelter of wrongdoers, Xi said.

He called on political and legal agencies to push forward judicial reforms, step up optimizing the configuration of duties, and improve the quality, efficiency, and credibility of judicial work.

Since political and legal agencies bear responsibility for providing public services, they should make efforts to simplify procedures to make services more convenient and efficient, he added.

Xi demanded efforts be stepped up in building an overseas security protection system to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals and organizations abroad.

He emphasized the training of high-quality political and legal professionals. They should be fully dedicated to working as builders and guardians of the socialist undertaking. “Bad apples” in the staff of law enforcement and judicial agencies must be removed, he added.

Xi urged Party committees and leading officials to support all judicial and law enforcement agencies to perform their duties independently and fairly in accordance with the law.

Over the past year, China has made progress in reforming its judicial and law enforcement system as part of the effort to make it fairer, as well as more efficient and authoritative.

China launched the Shanghai Financial Court, the country’s first court specializing in handling finance-related cases. Two international commercial courts were set up by the Supreme People’s Court.