BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu has urged public security heads at county-level bureaus to get better at dealing with conflicts, said the ministry Wednesday on its website.

    "This year will probably witness mounting pressure on safeguarding social security as conflicts compound and maintaining stability becomes more complicated amid the global financial downturn," said Meng.

    Meng, also State Councilor, made the remarks on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the third term of a massive training program for the country's 3,080 county public security heads in seven batches in the first half of 2009.

    The ministry launched the program in February, and each batch's training will last ten days.

    Meng listed five capabilities as essential for public security officials to cope with the "new situation" in China:

    -- to foster a harmonious relationship between the police and the public and improve the police's capability to deal with cases of public concern;

    -- to step up standardization of law enforcement and try to be rational, easygoing, civilized and standardized in law enforcement;

    -- to facilitate easy internal communication of the public security sector and enhance fighting capability at grassroots levels;

    -- to handle emergencies properly and improve the capability to cope with complicated situations;

    -- to enhance the work of guiding public opinion and work for good cooperation between the police and the media.

    China has witnessed a series of mass incidents during the past year, including protests by unemployed workers, taxi drivers' strikes, and unrest in the southwestern Weng'an County triggered by the death of a schoolgirl.

    In a government work report delivered at the annual session of China's parliament last month, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said "We will improve the early-warning system for social stability to actively prevent and properly handle all types of mass incidents."

    In China, the county is at the third level of the administrative hierarchy after the province (autonomous region, municipality) and the city.