PREMIER Li Peng has called for a joint effort by the public to crack down on crime to maintain peace and stability in the country.
Mr Li was speaking to grass-roots representatives holding a meeting with him in Beijing to express views on work done by the Government this year.
The call for greater mass efforts to beat crime was made after the head of the Guangdong police force said they would invest more in equipment and manpower and step up co-operation with their Hong Kong counterparts to help bring the province's soaring crime rate down this year.
According to Chen Shaoji, Guangdong Public Security Bureau Director, the province last year witnessed at least a nine per cent increase of crime.
Mr Li said at the Beijing meeting that the public was unhappy despite efforts to improve social order.
He maintained that greater attention should be paid to identify new sources of friction and to eliminate negative elements arising from the development of a market economy.
Speaking at a press conference in Guangzhou, the Guangdong police leader blamed the poor social order on declining morality and an increasingly mobile population in the southern province.