While discussing the new year’s plan at a conference attended by directors and chiefs of national public security units, Chinese Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang said: “Those who may endanger national security and social stability are by no means allowed to form any organization, nor will the activities that may harm national security and social stability be allowed to become popular.”

The phrase “are by no means allowed” uttered by Zhou, was far more concrete and explicit than those like, “eliminate a trouble from its inception,” that he has used in the past. Yongkang went on to say that, “the momentum of suppression and prevention should be reinforced.” Given that remark, it becomes clear that Zhou was requesting that participants prevent so-called “collective incidents.” What people found confusing was whether Zhou was suggesting that “collective incidents” not only be prevented, but suppressed as well.

Reuters reported that prior to Zhou delivering this speech, there had been a series of riots and conflicts erupting throughout China. These riots and conflicts are seen as reflections of the Chinese public’s general discontent with government officials’ corruption and power abuses, as well as being symptoms of the widening gap between the country’s rich and poor.

It is the opinion of Zeng Ning, Chinese dissident, that Zhou was guilty of flawed reasoning in his remarks, referring to citizens defending and striving for their own rights as “threatening national security.”

Zeng added that national policies as well as officials’ actions that infringe upon some people’s political and economic rights are the fundamental causes leading to the mass protests.

Wen Guanzhong, professor of the Economics Department at American Trinity College, also believed that social injustice is a major reason for the minorities’ collective protests. In his opinion, the Chinese people must embrace democracy as the way to combat social injustice and maintain social stability. In such a system, which enables the people to participate in political and economic decision-making, the Chinese citizens become masters of their own nation.