China maintains hard stance on gang crimes: ministry

BEIJING -- Chinese police have dismantled over 590 mafia-style organizations and over 8,900 other criminal gangs during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to the Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday.

More than 105,000 gang-related criminal cases have been solved nationwide over the period, said Jiang Guoli, political commissar of the ministry's criminal investigation bureau, at a press conference.

Jiang stressed that law enforcement agencies maintained a "zero-tolerance" policy toward organized crime, especially complex, high-profile cases.

The ministry directly oversaw 183 major investigations during the five years and captured 2,353 fugitives in a nationwide campaign to bring key suspects to justice.

Law enforcement authorities also focused on the root causes of organized crime through long-term crime prevention and social governance mechanisms, Jiang said, noting that targeted campaigns were carried out in cities and counties with a high volume of public complaints and gang-related incidents.

Jiang said that efforts to address gang activity have extended into industries and regions vulnerable to criminal infiltration. Police have worked closely with regulatory bodies to address criminality in rural areas, wholesale markets, the natural resource sector, and construction projects.

"By disrupting the cycle in which disorder fosters crime and crime evolves into organized gangs, authorities aim to eliminate the conditions that allow such groups to thrive," Jiang said.