Is China Really One of the World's Safest Countries?

As the Chinese Communist Party holds a major political event to tally Xi Jinping's achievements and extend the general secretary's rule for an unprecedented third term, a senior official has declared that China is among the safest countries in the world.

Xu Ganlu, the country's deputy public security minister, told a press conference on Wednesday that criminality and especially instances of major crime were both down compared to a decade earlier, when Xi first rose to power.

China's homicide and gun violence rates were among the lowest in the world, said Xu, who is Beijing's No. 2 police official and also the director of the Chinese immigration authority.

In 2021, major criminal acts including murder and rape were 64.4 percent lower than in 2012, the minister said. Over the same period, drug-related crimes declined 56.8 percent, robberies 96.1 percent and theft 62.6 percent, according to official figures.

Citing a 2021 survey by China's National Bureau of Statistics, Xu said 98.6 percent of the Chinese public felt safe living in China, up by 11 points from 2012. China, he concluded, was "widely recognized as one of the world's safety countries."

The press event where he made his remarks was held on the sidelines of the CCP's 20th National Congress, a twice-a-decade event that typically involves personnel changes in top leadership positions. Many expect Xi to secure another five-year term as leader of the party and military when the event ends this weekend, with his presidency to be extended at another gathering next March.

In his opening speech, which lasted two hours, Xi mentioned "security" 50 times, up from 36 in 2012. His nine references to "peace" were also down from 36 a decade ago, while "struggle" and "ideology" were up from eight and one to 17 and eight times, respectively.

Xi has spent the last 10 years in power building a vast security apparatus that has swept up criminals, corrupt officials and rivals alike. The mass network of censorship and surveillance—trialed most notably against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang—also is highly effective at stamping out dissent, making political opposition virtually impossible to discuss, let alone organize.

The Global Peace Index, which today ranks 163 independent states and territories and covers 99.7 percent of the world's population, placed China at 89 on its peacefulness ladder this year, up six places from 12 months earlier. Iceland, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark and Austria made up the top five.

The GPI began in 2009 as an initiative by the Sydney-headquartered Institute for Economics and Peace. Officials, including those at the United Nations, have endorsed its index, which measures three domains: societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and degree of militarization.

The GPI report this year found China had high levels of political terror as well as nuclear and heavy weapons. It also scored poorly on "neighboring country relations."

At 89, China ranked meaningfully higher than the United States at 129, down one place from 2021. America's overall peacefulness rating is negatively affected by its jailed population, nuclear and heavy weapons, weapons experts, external conflicts fought and militarization.

Compared to the U.S., China faired better in terms of perceived criminality in society, homicides, access to weapons and jailed population, although the U.S. had fewer security officers and police as well as lower political instability. Both countries shared equal levels of violent crime and organized conflict.

In Wednesday's press conference, Xu said some 3,800 Chinese police officers had died in the line of duty in the last decade, and that the country's fight against organized crime would be stepped up.

For the Chinese leadership, domestic stability reigns supreme and can even come at the expense of diplomatic relations. The CCP's legitimacy has always taken precedence; the party's right to rule is part of a decades-long social contract with the Chinese public, who have largely grown to accept the party-state system in exchange for the promise of economic prosperity.

Recent governance challenges associated with China's shrinking population, slowing economy and COVID policies notwithstanding, what matters most to Beijing is maintaining the perception of a popular mandate.

On the eve of the party congress last Friday, Chinese broadcaster CCTV aired a related program featuring Hua Chunying, China's assistant foreign minister, who addressed the question of the country's polarized international image.

"Two entirely different views of China exist in the international community. One is the American and Western view of China as a threat and a challenge," she said.

"The other is that of the publics in most of the developing world, as well as that of international intellectuals, for whom China represents opportunity and hope," Hua said.

Ultimately, Hua returned the issue of domestic legitimacy. "Whether China's image is good or bad, that's for the Chinese ourselves to say," she said.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

According to Washington-based Freedom House, China's relative safety may have come at the cost to freedom. The country scored nine out of 100 in its latest Freedom in the World report from June, which measures political rights and civil liberties, based on the principles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The non-profit found China lacking in electoral process, political pluralism and participation, freedom of expression and belief, rule of law, and other measures. The U.S. scored 83 out of 100 this year.

China was similarly lacking in online freedom, Freedom House said. Its Freedom on the Net 2022 report, published on Tuesday, gave China a score of 10 out of 100.

"China was the world's worst environment for internet freedom for the eighth consecutive year," it said.

The U.S. scored 76 out of 100 in internet freedom.