Beijing, Jun 06: China said today that human
trafficking cases within its borders have declined and that it
is willing to work together with other countries to do more to
prevent women and girls from being forced into prostitution,
marriage or labour.
"Trafficking cases are on the decline in China and we
have made great progress in combating human trafficking,"
said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, without
giving a specific figure for the decline.
Liu had been asked to comment on a US government report
released yesterday that listed China as a source and
destination for men, women and children forced into modern-day
slavery as labourers and prostitutes. He did not respond
directly to the report.
"The trafficking of women and children in particular is a
regional and international problem and we are willing to
conduct international cooperation in this regard to step up
our effort to combat the evil acts of traffickers," Liu said.
Most of China's human trafficking is internal, but
Chinese also are forced to work all over the world, according
to the US State Department's annual 'trafficking in persons'
report. Chinese are lured into sex work largely in Taiwan,
Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, it said.
While Beijing has not complied with minimum standards for
fighting the problem, the report said, China was praised for
"vigorously" investigating and prosecuting trafficking crimes.
The report placed China among countries said to fall
somewhat short of those making significant efforts to meet
minimum standards; officials criticised "its failure to show
evidence of increasing efforts to address transnational
trafficking".
Bureau Report
