China has seen significant improvement in public safety and security in recent years, with the number of registered criminal cases falling by 30.1 percent year on year in the first seven months of this year, marking a 14-month consecutive decline, Qi Yanjun, vice minister of public security, said on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO), Qi said that in the January to July period, telecom fraud cases dropped by 23.8 percent, keeping an 11-month year-on-year downward trend.
"From January to July this year, the number of registered criminal cases nationwide dropped by 30.1 percent year on year, making a 14-month consecutive decline. The number of registered telecom fraud cases also decreased by 23.8 percent year on year, continuing an 11-month year-on-year downward trend. The current homicide detection rate stands at a record high of 99.94 percent. The country's public safety index for 2023 stood at 98.2 per cent, maintaining a level above 98 percent for four consecutive years," Qi said.
Since 2019, police authorities in China have rolled out a series of new policies aimed at benefiting the people and businesses, the vice minister said.
"In terms of benefiting the people and enterprises, we have introduced over 240 reform measures to further optimize the business environment with focus on economic and social development. In terms of integrated urban and rural development, we have orderly pushed forward the urbanization of rural migrants. Since 2014, a total of 150 million rural migrants have settled in cities in a steady and orderly manner, and the urbanization rate of the registered population has increased from 35.9 percent in 2014 to 48.3 percent in 2023," he said.
In terms of public security and household affairs, the ministry has continued its efforts to facilitate the inter-provincial household affairs and issuance, loss report and renewal of national ID cards.
In terms of traffic administration, the ministry has introduced 10 batches of reform measures on traffic management, benefiting over 800 million people and reducing the costs for the public by more than 70 billion yuan (9.83 billion U.S. dollars).
"Based on the principle of equal protection in accordance with the law, the public security authorities have investigated 396,000 criminal cases of intellectual property infringement and market disturbance, and promoted the drafting and revision of more than 50 laws and regulations related to public security," he said.
China sees 30 pct drop in criminal cases in first seven months: vice minister
