Senior leader calls for all-inclusive Beijing security checks

SHIJIAZHUANG, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Police in areas neighboring Beijing should check every vehicle, object and person entering the city to ensure public security for China's National Day celebrations, a senior Chinese leader said Tuesday.

Police should try to keep "all unstable factors" out of from Beijing and solve them locally, said Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, during a visit to Beijing and Hebei Province to oversee the "security moat" project.

The "security moat" is a stability drive in six regions neighboring Beijing, including Hebei, Liaoning, Shandong and Shanxi provinces, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and the Tianjin Municipality. It is being organized by the Ministry of Public Security

Zhou said the safety of China's National Day celebrations and stability in Beijing was of overriding importance.

"We should ensure the safety of the celebrations with Beijing's stability, and ensure Beijing's stability by that of the neighboring regions," he said.

The police should, Zhou said, act at grassroots levels to solve people's difficulties and public disputes in order to improve their livelihoods while maintaining public security.

They should do their job in a rational and civilized fashion in accordance with the country's laws and regulations, he said.