China’s security chief urges all-out efforts to ensure safe New Year and Spring Festival

Call from Chen Wenqing comes as China doubles down on social stability and judicial fairness after string of public attacks

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A street in Anshun, Guizhou province, dressed up for last year’s Spring Festival, China’s biggest annual holiday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:22pm, 8 Dec 2024Updated: 8:38pm, 8 Dec 2024

China’s top security official Chen Wenqing has called for all-out efforts to ensure social security and stability during the coming New Year and Spring Festival holidays.

Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is China’s biggest annual celebration and falls on January 29 this time.

Chen issued the call for stronger security measures at key venues and for major events as he toured central Hubei province last week, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

He also called for increased street patrols to “bolster the public’s sense of security” through greater police presence, the report said.

Chen is head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, which oversees China’s law enforcement agencies. He is also a member of the ruling Communist Party’s elite decision-making Politburo.

Chen Wenqing has called for standardised county-level governance centres to be set up fast, so that dispute resolution is made easier as people would need to visit just “a single place”. Photo: AFP

One stop on the trip was Hubei’s high court, where he said judicial efforts should “fully consider the social harm caused by criminal acts and focus on the people’s real concerns” to ensure fairness and justice.