China places armed police under military control to manage large-scale riots

As public discontent in China has been increasing, partly because of the widening gap between rich and poor, the number of riots and protests has exceeded 180,000 annually in recent years.

At present, the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force (PAP) is commanded by both the Central Military Commission, which controls the military, and the Public Security Ministry, which is in charge of police affairs.

Because the PAP is under dual control, there has been a number of instances when the PAP received conflicting instructions from the military and local public security authorities after being ordered to suppress riots or undertake other missions. As a result, decisions to deploy the PAP were delayed in some cases. Some government officials have complained that the PAP’s actions are inefficient.

By placing public security units under a single command, the Chinese government hopes to respond to large-scale riots and other incidents more rapidly.

The reorganization is aimed at dealing with incidents including the frequent clashes between public security authorities and armed groups in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and large-scale riots elsewhere.

[link to the-japan-news.com]