Luo Gan, a member of the powerful Politburo of China's Communist Party's Central Committee, issued the order on Monday in Beijing during a nationwide teleconference.

It reflects Chinese top leadership's increasing impatience in the face of rising bank robberies, forced sale of products, illegal seizing of others' property, and abduction of wealthy entrepreneurs, analysts said.

The crackdown will also try to achieve a relatively secure environment as the 1.3 billion-strong population is going to greet the traditional Spring Festival, which falls on January 24.

"To eradicate the mafia and evil forces, it is crucial to dig out those government officials who support them from backstage," Luo said, adding many influential bureaucrats had acted as their "protection umbrella."

Mafia-style gangs, who have plotted many of the armed robberies and kidnappings, are running wild in some of China's provinces, Luo said. Their sheer existence runs counter to a socialist country like China, he added.

In some places, the evil forces go so rampant that local residents are afraid to report to the law enforcing departments, even if their own property and life are threatened.

"It is time for the government to take resolute actions against those forces on a national scale," Luo said.

Luo, who is also the secretary of the Party's Central Legal Commission, urged the police and the judicial sectors to make concerted efforts to smash a few big cases first and put the principal culprits behind bars.

(chinadaily.com.cn 12/13/2000)