Social security has continued to improve in Guangdong capital since the start of the year with a double-digit drop in the number of criminal cases recorded.

Guangzhou, an economic powerhouse in south China, had 65,129 cases registered from January to October, a drop of 15.2 percent from comparable statistics for the same period last year, according to Zhang Guifang, deputy secretary of the Guangzhou City Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Zhang, also secretary of the politics and law committee for Guangzhou, said during the January-October period, cases of robbery and theft of motor vehicles in the city plunged more than 30 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

Guangdong, which borders both Hong Kong and Macao, has benefited most economically from China's reform and opening-up drive over the past three decades. The economic boom, however, has turned many of the province's cities in this southern region into havens for crime.

Incidents of crime in Guangzhou, for instance, experienced a steady rise until 2006 when the city reported its first ever drop in crime cases with fewer than 100,000 cases reported.

While expressing confidence that the number of cases would be fewer than 80,000 this year, Zhang urged greater efforts be made in the future to make sure crime continue to decline by at least 10 percent annually. He wanted to see the number of cases at less than 60,000 by 2010 when Guangzhou hosts the 16th Asian Games.

"We must work harder to create a safe and healthy social environment in Guangzhou for holding the Asian Games."

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2007)