Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, extended his best wishes to the China Police Association (CPA), which was set up on Monday.

"We should make the association a 'home of police', " said Zhou, who is also a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and a state councillor.

The association must help the police nationwide to consolidate the CPC's leadership and maintain the social stability, he said.

It also will benefit adjusting the internal relations among police offices, reinforcing the coherence and battle effectiveness of the police forces, intensifying the communication and exchanges between the police and general public and the international exchanges and cooperation in combating crimes, he said.

The CPA's predecessor, the former Police Science Society of China, was set up in 1992, according to a CPA spokesman.

The new organization is endowed with some new functions, the spokesman noted, including acquainting themselves with views and complaints of people, coordinating the police's public relations, and promoting and adjusting the relationships between the police and people, and ensuring the police's rights.

In addition, the association will also be addressed to researches and international exchanges on police science, the spokesman said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2005)