Guangdong gets tough on economic crime

The Guangdong provincial government has mapped out a plan to crack down on economic crimes including monopolizing, counterfeiting and commercial bribery, officials said at a conference in the provincial capital on Thursday. The crackdown, meant to create a favorable market environment and maintain normal market order, is urgent because the province is in a critical period transforming and upgrading its economy, said Wang Yang, Party chief of Guangdong. "Monopolizing, counterfeiting and commercial bribery are the 'cancer' of the economy," Wang said, adding that the criminal activity damages social stability, threatens people's lives and property and is hated by the public. The conference also focused on establishing a credit system and a market supervision system. Enterprises in South China's economic powerhouse Guangdong face challenges from the complex domestic and global economic situations this year. According to Wang, the crackdown on economic crime and establishing the market supervision and credit systems will help enterprises overcome the challenges by reducing the cost of transactions. Guangdong Governor Zhu Xiaodan advised the government to strike hard on big cases first, to deter others. Zhu also asked all departments of the government and the public to support the crackdown. Public security agencies in Guangdong launched a campaign against counterfeiting and violations of intellectual property in October 2010. By October 31, 2011, more than 2,000 cases of counterfeiting had been solved, 2,511 counterfeiting operations destroyed and 70 websites for selling counterfeits shut down. Authorities broke up 618 gangs and arrested 2,429 people across the province.