China plans to continue its crackdown on ‘hostile forces’

Top Chinese judicial figures told the country’s annual parliament that the government would maintain a major offensive against “infiltration, subversion and sabotage by hostile forces” including ethnic separatists, religious extremists and terrorists, and vowed to keep up the crackdown on official corruption.

Last year, Chinese courts convicted 1,419 people accused of harming state security, including those participating in terrorist and secessionist activities, which is nearly twice as many as in 2014, chief justice Zhou Qiang told the National People’s Congress.

"Hostile forces" is a catch-all phrase in the Chinese state security lexicon. It covers everything from Uighur separatists in the western province of Xinjiang and followers of the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, to human rights activists and dissidents, to agents of foreign governments, occasionally non-governmental organisations, and members of the banned spiritual organisation, Falun Gong.

China’s chief prosecutor Cao Jianming presented the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s (SPP) work report, and said prosecutors were making greater efforts to prosecute suspects involved in terrorist attacks.

"The SPP will firmly crack down on hostile attempts to infiltrate the country, subvert the government and cause destruction, as well as terrorist attacks, and secessionist and extremist activities," he told the delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. "We will punish cyber crimes, safeguard the country's cyber sovereignty, security and development interests," said Mr Cao.

The other major pillar of the government's tough security policy has been on fighting corruption. President Xi Jinping has waged a campaign against graft since he assumed control of the main offices of the party in late 2012. Since he made his pledge to root out corruption in China, tens of thousands of officials have been arrested.

Mr Cao said Chinese courts concluded 34,000 corruption trials last year. Close to 80 former officials at ministerial level or above were investigated in the three years between 2013 and 2015.

Mr Cao also said 124 corruption suspects have been brought back from 34 countries and regions overseas. This was part of part of a manhunt called Operation Sky Net.