▲ Security personnel on guard outside Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China
Chinese public security authorities have launched a massive sweep to eradicate organized crime, apprehending over 8,000 suspects in their initial crackdown alone.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, the Ministry of Public Security recently conducted its first major concentrated crackdown, uncovering about 1,000 various criminal organizations and arresting over 8,200 individuals.
The latest crackdown exposed a large number of emerging criminal syndicates that used online loan scams to lure victims into illegal debt collection, as well as those that extorted money by intentionally causing traffic accidents.
The Ministry of Public Security explained that the so-called "black forces" crimes, which historically relied on organized crime syndicates to exert physical violence, have recently evolved into covert and diverse forms, such as malicious complaints on online shopping malls and cyberbullying.
An official from the Ministry of Public Security emphasized, "We will actively respond to crimes and crack down on them as soon as any signs of crime appear," adding, "We will continuously push forward with these intensive crackdowns to issue a strong warning and achieve tangible results."
From 2018 to 2020, China carried out a nationwide special campaign to root out organized crime, exposing a massive number of criminal gangs along with public officials who protected or colluded with them.
At the time, Chinese authorities prominently used the term "saohei," which means uprooting violent gangs, rather than just "dahei," which simply referred to cracking down on them.
This meant expanding the scope of eradicating crime to target not only street-level criminal gangs, but also corrupt public officials and behind-the-scenes forces who colluded with them.
In this special crackdown as well, authorities are broadening their scope by classifying new types of crimes occurring in online spaces and everyday economic activities—such as intimidation and extortion—as organized crime, alongside traditional gang-related offenses.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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