China is widely recognized as one of the safest countries in the world, a senior official said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday when introducing the country's achievements in legal service during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

Yin Bai, secretary general of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said the rule of law is a crucial guarantee for the Chinese modernization.

"During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we have advanced in depth a law-based business environment, carried out special rectification of prominent issues in law enforcement involving enterprises, equally protected all types of business entities in accordance with the law and continuously stimulated market vitality," he said.

Yin said China's county-level comprehensive public security management centers have been fully operational nationwide, promoting the legalization of conflict prevention and resolution.

"We have punished law violations and crimes according to law. The number of criminal cases filed in 2024 decreased by 25.7 percent year on year. China is widely recognized as one of the safest countries in the world," Yin said.

He said China has launched reforms to the law enforcement and judicial accountability system and carried out special inspections of law enforcement and judicial practice.

"We have continuously improved and implemented the lifelong accountability system for case handling quality and the system of tracing back the accountability for wrongful convictions," Yin said.

In 2024, courts nationwide accepted 46.02 million cases, a 41.5 percent increase over the year of 2020. The cumulative acceptance rate of judgments and cessation of litigation in first and second instance judgments reached 98.03 percent. The judiciary quality, efficiency, and credibility have been improved continuously, Yin said.

Source: CCTV+