China joins five countries in mission to prevent Mekong River trafficking

The Ministry of Public Security announced in a joint statement between China and five Southeastern countries on the enhancement of judicial cooperation and the crack down on cross-border crimes to maintain security along the Mekong River.

The five southeastern countries to join China in this crack down are Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, as well as two observer countries, Cambodia and Vietnam.

In recent years, cross-border crimes, including drugs manufacturing and trafficking, organized smuggling and illegal immigration, as well as terrorist activities along the Mekong River, have become more severe and complex, posing a serious threat to regional security and stability.

Guo Shengkun, minister of the Public Security said Saturday in a Ministerial Meeting on Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation in Beijing, "it's more than necessary to strengthen law enforcement's cooperation between China and the five countries to combat cross-border crimes. We need to maintain regional security and promote economic prosperity."

According to statement, the six countries will hold a ministerial and high-ranking official meeting every two years to discuss major issues and solve practical problems hindering their strategic judicial cooperation.

The statement said, "we will establish a comprehensive law enforcement and security cooperation center along Lancang and Mekong River based at Jinghong city in Southwest China's Yunnan province to conduct intelligence sharing, case investigation and joint actions, as well as other trainings programs."

Expecting great importance to enhance judicial cooperation to target drug trafficking, organized smuggling and illegal immigration between, as well as capturing fugitives, they will also focus on other transnational organized crimes including human trafficking, firearms trafficking, terror attacks and cyber crimes.

China, Laos, Myanmar and Laos are in discussion to sign a formal agreement on law enforcement and security cooperation along the Mekong River, while listing Cambodia and Vietnam as the observer countries to share intelligence and conduct joint actions to fight transnational crimes.

In 2011, the four countries agreed to set up the law enforcement cooperation and conduct joint patrols to fight cross-border crimes along the Mekong River after 13 Chinese were killed in a drug trafficking ring after their ships were attacked in the Golden Triangle area of the river.

Liao Jinrong, director from the ministry's International cooperation bureau said, "between Oct 2011 to 2015, the four countries have conducted many joint patrols to smash major criminal gangs staying at Mekong River and took effective measures to greatly curb rampant serious crimes, then ensure regional shipping and trading security."

According to the ministry, law enforcement officers from the four countries have conducted 39 joint patrols and 72 investigation actions to fight cross-border crimes, including drug trafficking and illegal immigration during the past four years.

Moreover, they've conducted more than 30 joint actions to fight drug related crimes while uncovering 9,111 cross-border drug trafficking cases leading to 10,455 arrests confiscating 35.7 tons of various drugs along the Mekong River.

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