It helped China enforce zero-Covid. Now the community ‘grid’ network is going ‘professional’
- A ‘basic system of professional community workers’ must be built within five years, Communist Party and State Council say in joint notice
- Network will aim to ‘maintain social stability and consolidate the party’s long-term rule’, as Beijing continues drive to strengthen central control
The stronger network would aim to “maintain social stability and consolidate the party’s long-term rule”, China’s cabinet and the ruling Communist Party’s central decision-making body said in a joint notice released on Wednesday.
According to the State Council and the party’s Central Committee, a “basic system of professional community workers” must be built within five years. Workers’ political awareness and skills must also be enhanced, with secure pay, the document said.
It comes amid a drive in recent years to strengthen central control, as Beijing seeks ways to minimise risk and conflict down the line to the lowest levels of governance to ensure social stability.
Last year, the Ministry of Public Security pledged to deploy more officers to police stations, and rural and urban residential communities, to defuse the risk of social unrest.
President Xi Jinping’s trips around the country regularly include community work sites. He has also called on party cells at the community level to become real “fortresses” against challenges to the party’s rule and build a real connection with people on the ground.