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)