People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on Thursday denounced "palliative and shortsighted ways" of maintaining social stability, urging authorities to safeguard the people's interests and stop instability at its root.
Authorities in some areas simply seek results without considering measures and processes, leading to potential risks for further instability, the newspaper said in a commentary published on Thursday.
Without further elaboration, the newspaper also criticized the method of providing "economic benefits" to people involved to maintain stability, describing the solution as "cutting the arrow shaft instead of taking the arrowhead out of the wound."
The commentary said instability is rooted in the infringement of the people's direct and pragmatic interests, adding that it is far from enough to deal with the incidents themselves. The deep-rooted reasons for the incidents of instability should be addressed to achieve long-term stability.
"The ultimate goal of maintaining social stability is safeguarding the people's fundamental interests," the commentary said, adding that law enforcement authorities should show their respect to the interests and rights of the people, and take a disciplinary and just attitude when safeguarding public order.
The commentary came just two days after a nationwide conference on maintaining social stability. Improving people's livelihoods, establishing a more scientific and democratic decision-making process and striving for fair and clean law enforcement were discussed at the conference.
Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, urged officials attending the conference to improve their work for the CPC's upcoming 18th National Congress.
"Safeguarding social harmony and stability is a very important pre-condition for the opening of the 18th Party Congress and is the priority task and political responsibility of every level of government," said Zhou.
Zhou also called for dissolving conflicts regarding issues that have been shown to lead to instability, including forced demolitions, labor relations, social security and environmental protection.
