China in Southeast Asian anti-drug cooperation

Law enforcers from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam and UN representatives gathered in Beijing on Thursday for conference on drug policing, the Ministry of Public Security said Thursday.

The annual conference is held between countries in the Mekong subregion of East Asia who signed a memorandum of understanding between 1993 and 1995 for the joint fight against narcotics.

Liu Yuejin, director general of the ministry's Narcotics Control Bureau, said though the region's overall security situation has improved , new challenges have arisen, for example, an increase in synthetic drugs.

The police have also noted a return to opium poppy planting and a close link between drug dealing and other crimes.

China's southwest Yunnan province, bordering the notorious "Golden Triangle" where narcotic production and trafficking are rampant, is the major front in the battle against drug crime.

Strengthening the fight against drugs in the region is of vital importance for the stability of Southeast Asia, the representatives at the conference said.