IN DRIVING rain, three men were taken from Guandong Higher People's Court in Shenzen, the Chinese city bordering on Hong Kong, put onto a convoy of four lorries, and driven to the outskirts. There they were led into a stadium and in the open air, Wong Tin soong (37), Yeung Hai kei (40) and Lee Kwok chuen (36), were each shot once in the head.
Newspaper photographers had been invited, and next day the Hong Kong and Chinese press carried pictures of the men being escorted to their deaths their hands held behind their backs by police officers wearing the distinctive olive green uniforms and red shoulder flashes of the Ministry of Public Security.
The executions, on August 14th, were a public display of the determination of the Chinese authorities to pursue their "Strike Hard" campaign against crime. The three men had been convicted of smuggling 600 kilograms of high grade heroin into China from Hong Kong and were among seven convicts executed for their involvement in the biggest heroin trafficking case since the communists came to power in China.
The- case itself was also a reminder of the growth of serious crime in China which has accompanied the economic reforms launched in 1979. There have been some high profile murders in recent months. The well known Chinese novelist, Dai Horiying, whose best sellers overseas include Man, Oh Man, and The death of a Poet, was stabbed to death along with her niece in her Shanghai apartment during the summer, possibly by a thief who thought she was wealthy.
Campaigns against hard core crime have occurred every year in China since 1983, but this year's has been the longest and most highly publicised. From April to August "Strike Hard" resulted in 162,000 arrests and over 1,000 executions, officials said.
A harsh anti corruption campaign is also under way. There have been executions of officials accused and found guilty of bribery and corruption. Earlier this year a Beijing vice mayor, Wang Baosen, committed suicide when investigators began looking into his property dealings, and the former mayor, Chen Xitong was dismissed as Beijing's party chief and publicly criticised, thought not charged with any crime.
A team of "graft busters" is currently conducting an inspection tour of 10 provinces and 15 ministries to focus on abuse of power by officials using public hinds to buy apartments and live it up at expensive restaurants.
More recently the state has started a crackdown on the sex business, and police claim progress in the battle against the abduction of young women and children for forced employment in brothels. More than 88,700 women and children were rescued from their kidnappers in the past four years, according to the Vice Minister of Public Security, Li Jizhou. Prostitution was prohibited in China by the National People's Congress in 1991 and there have been several crusades to enforce the law. Beijing - where there is no "red light" district - has just undergone a campaign against underground prostitution, and since July, massage services offered by people of the opposite sex have been banned in the capital, where Mr Li said prostitution had become particularly serious in hotels, hairdressing saloons, dance halls, beauty shops and sauna and massage parlours. Over 100,000 establishments were ordered closed in April to July, he said.
A large number of crimes have also been committed by crooks passing themselves off as members of the Ministry of State Security. In the same week that the three heroin smugglers were being executed in Shenzen, top officials of the MSS held their first every press conference in Beijing to warn that impostors were taking money for selling passports, army licence plates and residence permits.
The Ministry has opened thousands of commercial establishments throughout China, including hotels and karaoke bars, a situation which provides many opportunities for corruption, especially by individuals trading on the unwillingness of ordinary people to defy members of China's version of the old Soviet KGB. The anti crime campaign, led by President Jiang Zemin, has proved popular, and could help decide who emerges as China's leader in the power struggle after the death of Deng Xiaoping.
Some officials linked to the 92 year old father of China's reform programme have been arrested, leading to speculation that Mr Deng's power is waning and that the fight for the succession is already under way. Mr Jiang, who has had to ward off challenges to his authority, has never been tarnished with the allegations of corruption made against other high Chinese officials, which gives him the upper hand in taking on potential rivals.
Defence Minister, Chi Haotian, blamed the recent occurrence of top level corruption cases on "decadent capitalist tendencies which are developing rapidly in places", an indirect criticism of the must enthusiastic reformers in the leadership. China's former enemies shave never slackened their efforts to overthrow socialism", he said.
In an attempt to de couple the boom in private enterprise from "decadent tendencies", the authorities have ordered the elimination from businesses of "colonial, feudal or offensive" names such as those using the word "emperor" or "rich wife". A total of 1993 "improper names" had been removed from streets, tourist attractions and commercial centres in recent months, according to the Guanmig Daily.
Of more concern to human rights groups is the widespread use of the death penalty, which is running at about four times the rate in the US when population differences are taken into account, but with almost no time to appeal. The Chinese way is to show quickly and mercilessly that crime does not pay. After arrest and a brief trial, criminals are executed almost immediately by a bullet in the back of the head. The three men in Shenzen were shot at once after their appeal was rejected. Relatives who went to the stadium following the announcement of the execution were told that their bodies had already been incinerated.
Reuter adds: China's population hit 1.2112 billion at the end of 1995 and could jump to 1.3 billion at the end of the century if families defy a strict one couple, one child family planning policy, officials said yesterday.
China had hoped to keep its population below 1.2 billion until 2000 but abandoned that target last February and set the new level at 1.3 billion.
