“I think this is part of a longer term trend,” said Chu Shulong, a political scientist at Tsinghua University in Beijing. “Over the last five or six years, this administration has become much more sensitive about social stability than the previous one. Some measures might be temporary, but most of them will be long-term.”
While achieving the short-term goal of suppressing online calls for a “Jasmine Revolution,” the current clampdown—especially the increasing use of extrajudicial tactics—risks undermining efforts by other parts of the government to strengthen the rule of law and improve China’s international image…
Human-rights advocates and others say the extent of the current crackdown highlights the growing influence of Zhou Yongkang, 68, who is ranked ninth on the Party’s nine-man Politburo Standing Committee—its top decision-making body—but wields large power as overseer of all law enforcement agencies and the courts…
Mr. Zhou, by contrast, headed the Public Security Ministry from 2003-2007 and now oversees all the security services as head of the party’s Central Political and Legal Committee. He has also installed key allies in senior posts across the security agencies.
That means he personally oversees an internal security budget which, at about $95 billion, will be even bigger than the military one for the second successive year in 2011.
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