Beijing (China Daily/ANN) - China is
witnessing an increasing number of foreign women who have been cheated,
kidnapped and smuggled into the country, a senior official has said.
Most of these women are from rural areas in
Vietnam, Burma and Laos. They eagerly want to find jobs in China or marry rich
Chinese men to escape poverty, Chen Shiqu, director of the Ministry of Public
Security's anti-human trafficking office, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
Chen Shiqu, director of the Ministry of Public
Security's anti-human trafficking office.
"The number of foreign women trafficked
to China is definitely rising," Chen said, without disclosing how many
women have been rescued by Chinese police nationally.
However, in North China's Hebei province,
police have rescued 206 trafficked foreign brides since April 2009, mainly from
Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, according to figures from the
provincial public security department.
Chen said the lack of natural barriers, such
as rivers or mountains in the border areas between China and Southeast Asian
countries, in addition to poverty in some regions in these countries,
contribute to the rising trafficking of foreign women.
The victims are often sold in rural Chinese
areas as brides of local villagers, or forced to provide sex services in
underground prostitution dens in China's coastal or border areas such as Yunnan
and Guangdong provinces, or Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, he said.
Chen said the trafficking is often a
collaboration between criminals in and outside China.
The criminals usually look for women from
rural areas in their 20s and 30s. They then use the suggestion of high-salaried
jobs as bait. Some criminals even set up illegal cross-border marriage
brokerages and tell the women they can become brides of rich Chinese men in big
cities.
After the women agree, the traffickers arrange
for them to illegally bypass border checkpoints by taking them along small
roads in the forest or mountain areas, or illegally entering China by river,
Jin Yulu, a senior border police officer from Ruili checkpoint in Dehong Dai
and Jingpo autonomous prefecture of Yunnan, told China Daily.
Upon arriving in China, the traffickers will
hand over these women to their collaborators in China.
The price of one woman ranges from 20,000 to
50,000 yuan (US$3,100 to 7,800) based on their figure, appearance and
nationality, Jin said.
In one case, a 22-year-old woman from Myanmar
was sold for 30,000 yuan in Jiangdu, Jiangsu province and became the bride of a
28-year-old local villager.
After being rescued about half a year later,
the girl told police through a translator that she could not speak Chinese and
had no way to resist. She said during the marriage her husband often sexually
abused and beat her. Finally, she managed to get help from neighbours, who
helped report the case to the police.
She was sent back to Myanmar through the Ruili
frontier border station in Dehong in July, but the trafficker is still at
large.
To cope with the rising cross-border
trafficking of women, Chinese police launched a special crackdown in the border
area from July to September, Chen said.
During the action, Guangxi police cracked 30
cases involving kidnapped Vietnamese women, smashed 11 criminal gangs and
arrested 53 suspects.
Meanwhile, police rescued 52 Vietnamese women,
official figures show. In Yunnan, police uncovered 21 cases of trafficking of
Vietnamese women, arrested 17 suspects and rescued 22 Vietnamese victims.
The rescued women were placed in Chinese
rescue shelters before being sent back to their home countries, he said.
"We pay close attention to protecting the
legitimate rights of the rescued female victims, and will do well in settlement
and repatriation," he said.
Chen said Chinese police will carry out
regular actions to combat trafficking of foreign women, and pay more attention
to key areas such as bus stations, docks and small roads in the fields or
mountains where traffickers easily pass.
More cooperation between Chinese police and
their counterparts in Southeast Asian countries is also necessary, he said.
China has signed the Mekong River Sub-regional
Cooperation Anti-trafficking Memo with Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia, and
established an annual meeting of senior officials to help curb international
trafficking.
Beijing has also set up eight border offices
with neighboring countries, such as Vietnam, Burma and Laos to fight against
trafficking, Chen said.
"But more efforts are required to share
intelligence, cooperate on investigations, as well as transfer suspects and
repatriate victims," he said.
Zhang Yan in Beijing/China Daily | ANN
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