On Monday, police in Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region announced that, since July 1, they and
Vietnamese authorities have rescued 37 women who had been abducted
and sold, and arrested eight people implicated in their trade.
"Combating human trafficking is the first campaign of a package
of agreements between Chinese and Vietnamese police departments
fighting cross-border crime," Zhu Yantao, a Ministry of Public
Security official, said yesterday.
"It is of great importance for both countries to fight against
human trafficking crimes," said an official from the Vietnamese
embassy in Beijing.
All the women rescued and six of those arrested were Vietnamese,
and the joint campaign is planned to run until September. Since
April, police from both sides of the border have made agreements on
law enforcement cooperation, information sharing and personnel
training, said Zhu.
Bui Thi Anh, one of the women, never dreamed that she could be
rescued so soon after being sold for 9,000 yuan (US$1,084) in Guangdong
two months ago.
On July 5, police from Guangxi rescued her and two others in
Suixi Township of Zhanjiang City.
A Guangxi police official said: "In Bui's case, Vietnamese
police had notified their Guangxi counterparts of the exact
position of the victims a week earlier."
Sharing a water border of 2,600 kilometers and a land one of
over 1,000 kilometers, Guangxi and Vietnam have to constantly
battle cross-border crimes such as human trafficking, said Zhu, who
supervised the operation.
In 2004, Guangxi police handled 23 human trafficking cases,
arrested 40 suspects and released 58 trafficked women.
Much of the trade involves women and girls from Vietnam destined
for the sex trade, said experts.
On July 4, police from Chongzuo in Guangxi rescued 11 Vietnamese
sex workers and caught three suspects who allegedly coerced them
into prostitution in Xinning Township of Fusui County, according to
a news release.
Besides Guangxi, other trafficking destinations are Guangdong,
Zhejiang,
Fujian,
Shandong
and Henan
provinces.
Guangxi has repatriated more than 1,000 trafficked women in the
past four years.
"By fighting hard against the traffic of women and children, we
want to send a strong signal that China is not a haven for such
crimes," Zhu said.
According to Zhu, all six countries in the Greater Mekong
Region?-- Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and
Vietnam?-- reached an agreement last year to fight human
trafficking.
(China Daily July 13, 2005)