A Sino-ASEAN seminar on China's criminal justice system and law enforcement opened Monday, marking another step forward in the fight against cross-border crime.

More than 30 officials from the law enforcement departments of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN secretariat are attending the course, said a representative of the Ministry of Public Security yesterday.

The ministry will present information on China's fights against organized crime, illegal migration and drugs, as well as on international cooperation in battling transnational crime.

The seminar is geared toward helping ASEAN member nations' law enforcement bodies to understand China's criminal justice and law enforcement systems.

China and ASEAN signed a memorandum of understanding on January 11 on cooperating in the fight against nontraditional crimes.

The MOU also indicates the willingness of China and ASEAN to improve their collaboration in the fight against transnational crime, said Tian Qiyu, executive vice minister of public security.

The two parties agree to share information, exchange personnel and training and cooperate in law enforcement.

The ministry has allocated special funds and has outlined a five-year program and a 2004 cooperation plan to implement the memorandum. China has suggested a three-stage implementation strategy to carry out the five-year program.

Cooperation on non-traditional safety issues currently focuses on drug trafficking, illegal migration including human smuggling, piracy, terrorism, arms smuggling, money laundering, and international economic and cyber crimes.

(China Daily August 17, 2004)