China mulls force to check political loyalty of police, judiciary
Proposal comes as President Xi Jinping says ensuring stability of the government must be priority ahead of Communist Party congress later this year
China’s Communist Party is considering setting up a force of inspectors to check and ensure the political loyalty of the police, judges and prosecutors.
The proposal comes months ahead of a major transition of power in the government at a party congress due to be held this autumn.
All law enforcers must have “absolute political loyalty” and strictly abide by the political norms and disciplines of the party, a directive issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party said, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported late on Wednesday.
The plan comes after an inspection report into the Ministry of Public Security last month called on the country’s police to eradicate the bad influence of the disgraced former security tsar Zhou Yongkang.
He was jailed for life two years ago for corruption and leaking state secrets.
Zhou is the most senior party leader to be charged with corruption under a huge anti-graft campaign initiated by Xi.