Xi Jinping orders security apparatus to eliminate risks ahead of 21st Party Congress

President Xi Jinping has ordered China’s security and legal apparatus to relentlessly eliminate risks and build a “safer” country a year ahead of the pivotal 21st Communist Party congress, which will usher in a major leadership reshuffle.

The latest instruction, published by state news agency Xinhua on Monday night, is also the Chinese leader’s first major domestic directive since his state visit to Washington last week, signalling a pivot back to the domestic agenda – especially stability.

In a written directive relayed at a high-level meeting, Xi said the security and law enforcement apparatus must advance the “Peaceful China Initiative to a higher level” to ensure “steady and sustained progress in China’s modernisation”. The initiative was first launched in 2013 with the goal of reducing security risks by mobilising all the country’s resources.

These bodies must “prevent and defuse various risks” by addressing both symptoms and causes, Xi instructed. He urged officials to improve grass-roots governance, strengthen rule-of-law frameworks, and rely more on “technological empowerment” to maintain social order and mitigate potential unrest.