President Xi Jinping has called for deepening overall reform of the country's political and legal work to elevate its level of modernization.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, told political and legal staff to make safeguarding the country's political security their top priority this year.

The remarks were made in an instruction on the country's political and legal spheres, and was publicized at the annual Central Political and Legal Work Conference held on Friday in Beijing.

The political and legal systems, which mainly include the country's law enforcement and judicial departments, made new achievements last year in safeguarding national political security, fighting organized or gang-related crimes, deepening overall reform and protecting people's personal and property safety, Xi said in the instruction. All these efforts have helped create a good environment for celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the New China.

As the year 2020 is crucial in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and winning the anti-poverty battle, Xi required the political and legal systems to put safeguarding national political security first in their work, continue to combat organized or gang-related crimes, advance pilot programs to modernize social governance in cities, and strive to build China into a country with greater peace and better rule of law.

He called for CPC committees at all levels to support law enforcement and judicial departments to perform their duties in line with the law, and select strong personnel to lead these departments.

Guo Shengkun, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the committee, presented Xi's instructions and spoke at the conference on Friday.

The conference underscored that the political and legal systems nationwide must follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, uphold the Party's absolute leadership, focus on the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and create a favorable political, social and legal environment for the country's development.