ZHU MINGGUO, deputy Communist Party secretary of Guangdong province and the official who helped resolve the standoff between villagers and authorities in Wukan village this month, warned that China would face more citizens protests in future.
Mr Zhu said corrupt local governments were like rotten apples.
"Like rotten apples, their hearts were rotten even if their skins were red, and when the skins broke, there was a real mess that could not be cleaned up," he told a meeting on social stability, the Guangzhou Dailynewspaper reported.
The past few days have seen two veteran dissidents jailed for nine and 10 years respectively, highlighting Beijing’s insistence on keeping a lid on all forms of dissent, for fear it might become organised into something more destabilising.
During 10 days of protest, the villagers of Wukan drew global attention to their complaints over a land grab and the death of their representative, Xue Jinbo, while in police custody.
The government backed down and agreed to the villagers’ demands in order to ensure stability in the rich coastal province.
“In terms of society, the public’s awareness of democracy, equality and rights is constantly strengthening, and their corresponding demands are growing,” Mr Zhu said.
He said that the events in Wukan were not isolated incidents and that other protests by migrant workers showed there was a broader problem and that awareness was on the rise.
“Public consciousness of rights defence is growing, and the means used to defend rights are increasingly intense. Their channels for voicing grievances are diverse, and there is a tendency for conflicts to become more intense,” he said.