China approves police reform plan aimed at improving force's efficiency and public image

China has approved a plan to overhaul its police force to improve its efficiency and salvage its public image.

The reforms - covering areas including law enforcement, domestic security, administration, personnel, and supervision of the auxiliary force - had received the endorsements of the Communist Party's top reform steering panel and the Politburo Standing Committee, Xinhua said yesterday.

Both the panel and the committee are chaired by President Xi Jinping.

The reform plan, comprising over 100 measures, is aimed at making the police an effective force and increasing public approval of their work by 2020.

"It's a reform aimed at tackling root problems that have been accumulated over the years," the Ministry of Public Security said.

The ministry came under scrutiny after the party's corruption investigation into its former chief Zhou Yongkang, who was also a Politburo Standing Committee member.

In recent months, high-profile cases of wrongful convictions - including that of Inner Mongolian teenager Huugjilt who was wrongfully executed in 1996 for a rape and murder he did not commit - have further fuelled public criticism of the police force.