President Jiang Zemin has tried to reassert authority over the People's Armed Police. At a meeting of the Communist Party committee of the paramilitary police yesterday, senior PAP officers pledged to 'seriously study and implement' Mr Jiang's teachings about 'paying more attention to politics'.
The slogan is generally taken to mean being obedient to the party central authorities with Mr Jiang as its core.
PAP leaders, including their Commander, General Yang Guoping , undertook to strengthen the education and management of senior and mid-ranking officers.
Mr Jiang, also Chairman of the Central Military Commission, is the titular head of the armed police.
However, his influence in the PAP suffered a blow when a key protege, General Ba Zhongtan , was forced to resign as commander earlier this year.
General Ba, a member of the so-called Shanghai Faction, was blamed for lax management which resulted in a young PAP guard murdering a vice-chairman of the National People's Congress, Li Peiyao , in February.
Moreover, the planned expansion of the PAP from about one million to 1.5 million officers was temporarily stopped.