SHOWING FACES: Spokesmen for 11 departments and commissions of the Communist Party of China Central Committee attend a press conference in the Briefing Hall of the International Communication Office on June 30 (GAO XUEYU)

Party Members

A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said that the number of CPC members has increased to almost 78 million during the past six decades.

By the end of last year, the CPC had a total of 77.99 million members, about 116 times the figure in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, Wang Qinfeng, Vice Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, said at a press conference on June 28.

Last year, more than 20 million people applied to join the CPC and the Party recruited about 2 million new members, Wang said.

Of the total 78 million CPC members, about 18.5 million were under 35 years old, and close to 28 million held a college degree or above, he said.

Mystery Unveiled

The Party School of the CPC Central Committee is striving to open up to the outside world, said Li Jingtian, Vice President of the school during a press conference on June 29, two days ahead of the 89th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

Li said many foreign political and business leaders as well as scholars were willing to give lectures or deliver speeches at the party school.

"As a think-tank, we have established cooperation with more than 30 foreign universities, think-tanks and research institutes," said Li.

Li said the Party School has trained 60,000 communist cadres over the past three decades.

Live Fire Naval Drill

The People's Liberation Army Navy conducted an annual live-ammunition training exercise in the East China Sea from June 30 to July 5. The exercise, involving the No.91765 unit of the Navy's East China Sea Fleet, was held off the coast of east China's Zhejiang Province, said a statement released by the Ministry of National Defense.

Naval vessels shot at targets in eight fishing zones within China's Exclusive Economic Zone over the course of the six-day drill.

The People's Liberation Army issued an announcement on June 28 prohibiting vessels from entering the zones during the drill.

China recognizes the 12-nauticalmile-wide territorial waters and the 200-nautical-mile-wide Exclusive Economic Zone under its jurisdiction as being in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Crimes Drop

The number of criminal explosives cases as well as gun crimes in China has dropped 13.4 and 33.1 percent, respectively, in the first five months of 2010, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on June 28.

Police nationwide seized more than 351 tons of explosives, 1.7 million detonators, 15,000 guns, 1.84 million bullets, 300,000 imitation guns and 170,000 illegal knives since the launch of a national crackdown on illegal explosives and guns, the statement said.

The widespread publicity about the police crackdown apparently paid off with 3,099 tips received from the public which led to the solving of 1,538 cases and the arrest of 2,065 suspects.