Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday made a high-profile appearance at a ceremony capping off a three-year campaign to crack down on organized and gang-related crimes.

The event appeared to show that Xi was trying to bolster his domestic reputation, ahead of the centenary celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party later this year.

Xi congratulated “model crime-fighters” at the Beijing event, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Guo Shengkun, a member of the ruling Politburo and party secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, lauded Xi’s support for law enforcement agencies and said that “the fight against illegal activities should take place on a regular basis.”

China’s campaign against organized and gang-related crimes began in January 2018 and concluded earlier this year. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate reported 230,000 prosecutions over the three-year period.

There were 54,000 prosecutions related to organizing, leading and participating in gang activities, which was 11.9 times the total of the previous three years.

Prosecutors took aim at criminals threatening people’s daily lives, such as fraudulent agents, unlicensed clinic operators and highway robbers, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said.

A Xinhua editorial published on Monday said that the campaign against organized crime has been written into the country’s 14th Five-Year Plan and is part of Beijing’s long-term vision for 2035. The conclusion of the three-year campaign signaled that a new chapter was about to begin, it said.

The ceremony was also attended by Wang Huning and Zhao Leji, both members of the Politburo’s standing committee.

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