A recent large scale raid on brothels in Dongguan, Guangdong province was only the first step in an orchestrated, country-wide crackdown on the sex trade, Duowei News reports.
After an exposé on prostitution in China's so-called 'capital of sex' by CCTV last week, the Ministry of Public Security called for swift and resolute measures against organisers of the sex trade. The government urged police nationwide to crack down on crimes involving prostitution, gambling and drugs. This prompted police forces to launch multiple raids across the country.
Guangdong Communist Party chief Hu Chunhua deployed 6,000 police officers this week, resulting in the arrest of 67 people and the closure of 12 venues. Yan Xiaokang, vice mayor of Dongguan and head of the city’s Public Security Bureau has been sacked, along with the deputy police chief and 10 other public security officials.
According to Duowei, the CCTV report was not "going over Hu’s head", like some observers initially suggested, but more likely part of an orchestrated strategy controlled by the central government to clean up the more illicit parts of China's major cities.
Duowei reports that the Dongguan crackdown could become the new model for policing of the sex trade, with central government dictating the overall strategy, supported by state media and provincial party chiefs.
CCTV has been quick to lay the blame for Dongguan’s sex trade on corrupt local officials. People’s Daily also published a series of reports on the Dongguan scandal between February 12 and 16, calling criticism of the crackdown "blasphemy against civilization".
Public security bureaus in at least 16 cities across nine provinces have followed Guangdong’s lead. Police in Shaanxi province detained 204 people, and in Hengyang, Hunan Province, 70 suspects were arrested over the weekend. "501 suspects and 73 gangs have been held during a crackdown on prostitution and pornography," the Ministry of Public Security announced Monday.
In 2013, police arrested 19,000 people and broke up 6,323 pornography-related operations, with over 12,000 prosecutions, according to officials.
[Image via CNS]
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