China, Myanmar step up human trafficking crackdown

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the Police Force of Myanmar have established their third liaison office on fighting human trafficking, the MPS said.

Located at the Nansan-Lougai port between southwest China's Yunnan Province and northern Myanmar's Kokang region, the liaison office is the third to be established between the two countries. The other two liaison offices are located in Yunnan's Ruili and Longchuan and were set up in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

The MPS said the two countries' joint anti-human trafficking efforts have made significant achievements since China and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding on anti-human trafficking.

The two countries have established regular meeting mechanisms on human trafficking work, strengthened intelligence exchanges and worked together to apprehend suspects.

A total of 257 women and 42 children from Myanmar have been rescued in Yunnan since China launched a special campaign against human trafficking in April 2009.

China has established eight liaison offices for anti-human trafficking work with neighboring Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos in Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.