Deadly Guangxi blasts: ease in getting explosives shows major flaw in China's security

A series of deadly bomb blasts in China this week has shown how easy it is to obtain explosives in the country – exposing a major gap in the mainland’s huge security apparatus as the economy slows and anger grows over issues such as corruption and poor public services.

In a country where firearms are banned for most people, the bombings in the southwestern city of Liuzhou, in the Guanxi autonomous region, on Wednesday and Thursday, and other places around the country in recent years, demonstrate lax enforcement of rules that control access to bomb-making materials.

Private gun ownership is also banned on the mainland, but many thousands of illegal weapons are traded on the black market.

The 18 coordinated blasts across Liuzhou, which lies in a relatively obscure part of China, destroyed one whole side of a low-rise residential building, overturned vehicles and sent bricks showering into the street, images carried by state media television and newspapers showed.

The explosions killed at least seven people and injured more than 50.

The attacks have been blamed on one individual in the city, but such “sudden incidents” – as Beijing refers to them – highlight broader government fears about stability in the world’s second-largest economy, with a widening gap between rich and poor and growing anger at corruption and environmental issues.