In the first ten months of this year, courts throughout China have tried 162,822 criminal cases involving severe threats to public order, and 12,915 cases that seriously damaged market order, sentencing 210,779 and 15,945 criminals respectively, Xiao said.
Noting that next year's "strike hard" campaign will focus on organized crimes, Xiao stressed the campaign must be joined with anti-corruption efforts, for some officials were in collusion with various criminal gangs.
Xiao said the criminals' illegally gained wealth must be confiscated.
Addressing the regulation of market order, the top judge pointed out that cases which involve the production of counterfeit goods, copyright infringement, smuggling, undermining financial order, tax evasion, and production accidents will be handled with an especially firm hand.
(People's Daily December 18, 2001)
