China and Myanmar have vowed to cooperate more closely in anti-drugs operations along their borders at a bilateral meeting on the issue which closed Saturday in the capital of southwest China's border province of Yunnan.
After reviewing the achievements of China-Myanmar anti-drugs cooperation and the drug smuggling situation in the region, senior police narcotics officers from both countries made "in-depth and active" exchanges on increasing cooperation by improving intelligence exchanges and developing agricultural substitutes for drugs growers.
The Chinese delegation to the three-day meeting was led by Yang Fengrui, deputy secretary-general of the China National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) and director of the Anti-Drugs Department under the Ministry of Public Security.
The two sides agreed that cooperation between China and Myanmar had reached a new level after the signing of a memorandum between the two countries and the Beijing Announcement last year, which defined the framework of the joint anti-drug cooperation among China, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
During the successive cooperation, Myanmar police arrested notorious Chinese drug smuggler Tan Xiaolin and extradited him to China.
Myanmar police also worked closely with their Chinese counterparts in apprehending Chinese drug dealer Shang Chaomei and killing Chinese drug dealer Liu Ming while he resisted arrest.
The three successful anti-drug operations have contributed a great deal to the international drugs-control efforts.
Meanwhile, China has also helped former opium poppy farmers in Myanmar grow crop substitutes. Yunnan Province has invested over 300 million yuan on exporting expertise for this purpose.
Agricultural training carried out in the northern region of Myanmar has yielded obvious achievements, which have won acknowledgment from international anti-drugs organizations.
In February this year, 25 Myanmar anti-drugs police became the first officers from the country to receive drugs-control law enforcement training in China, which is expected to become a regular program sponsored by NNCC.
Yang Fengrui said that China-Myanmar drugs-control cooperation has been pushed in a more successful direction with better awareness of the situation between the two sides.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2002)
