VZCZCXRO4290
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #0509/01 0580738
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 270738Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2546
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BEIJING 000509 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM JCARTIN; EAP/RSP JK; G/TIP CCHAN- 
DOWNER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SMIG KTIP KCRM KWMN CH
SUBJECT: CHINA: 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT 
 
REF: STATE 132759 
 
¶1. (SBU) Please find post's contribution to the 2009 
Trafficking in Persons Report.  Paragraph 
designations are keyed to reftel A questions 
 
China's TIP Situation 
--------------------- 
 
¶A.  The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) serves as 
our main source for information on TIP related 
statistics and government programs.  The process by 
which MPS arrives at its statistics is not 
transparent and many outside experts and NGOs claim 
MPS statistics downplay the extent of the 
trafficking problem in China.  The All China Women's 
Federation (ACWF) and other related organizations 
supply us with our main source of information on 
prevention programs and rehabilitation.  ACWF 
information has proven generally reliable in the 
past. 
 
¶B.  The People's Republic of China (PRC) is a 
source, transit and destination country for men, 
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of 
sexual exploitation and forced labor.  The majority 
of trafficking in China occurs within the country's 
borders, but there is also considerable 
international trafficking of PRC citizens to Africa, 
Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and 
North America, which often occurs within a larger 
flow of human smuggling.  Chinese women are lured 
abroad through false promises of legitimate 
employment and then forced into commercial sexual 
exploitation, largely in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia 
and Japan.  There are also many cases involving 
Chinese men and women who are smuggled into 
destination countries throughout the world at an 
enormous personal financial cost and whose 
indebtedness to traffickers is then used as a means 
to coerce them into commercial sexual exploitation 
or forced labor.  Women and children are trafficked 
to China from Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia, 
and Vietnam for forced labor, marriage, and 
prostitution.  North Korean women and children 
seeking to leave their country cross the border into 
China voluntarily, but some of these individuals, 
after they enter the PRC in a vulnerable, 
undocumented status, are then sold into 
prostitution, marriage, or forced labor. 
 
¶C. Victims are typically trafficked into situations 
where their travel documents are confiscated and 
they are not allowed contact with family members. 
 
¶D.  Women and children, who made up 90 percent of 
trafficking cases, were often trafficked from 
poorer, rural areas where they were abducted or 
lured to urban centers with false promises of 
employment and then trafficked into prostitution or 
forced labor.  Migrant laborers, who are vulnerable 
to exploitation because they often lack official 
residence permits, are also targets. 
 
¶E.  The gamut of organizations involved in 
trafficking in China runs from international 
criminal syndicates to local gangs and individuals. 
 
China's Anti-TIP Efforts 
------------------------ 
 
¶A. China acknowledges that trafficking in persons is 
a problem and has developed a National Plan of 
Action (NPA) to coordinate efforts to combat the problem. 
 
¶B. At least 28 agencies are involved in anti- 
trafficking efforts.  Chief among these are the 
Ministry of Public Security, the State Council's 
Work Committee for Women and Children and the All 
China Women's Federation.  In November, MPS held the 
first Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference System 
(IMCS) meeting, a ministerial-level joint meeting 
comprising 28 agencies aimed at coordinating 
implementation of the NPA between groups. 
 
¶C. Funding limits the government's ability to 
address trafficking.  Local governments are often 
not allocated enough funding to adequately care for 
victims or pursue perpetrators.  The NPA calls for 
cooperation among government agencies fighting TIP 
 
BEIJING 00000509  002 OF 006 
 
 
but does not plan for the allocation of resources to 
local governments for implementation of the plan. 
 
¶D. China still only releases minimal statistics 
tracking the efficacy of anti-trafficking.  The 
government tracks the number of trafficking related 
prosecutions and victims, however, it is not clear 
how many victims were assisted. 
 
Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶A. China has laws specifically prohibiting 
trafficking in persons.  In addition to Articles 
240, 241 and 262 of China's Criminal Code, which 
directly address trafficking, the following articles 
refer to the criminalization of various trafficking- 
related crimes: Articles 134, 135, 244, 262 and 333 
address forced labor; Articles 358, 359, 360, 361 
and 365 address sexual exploitation; Articles 234 
and 238 address violation of a victim's rights while 
being trafficked; Article 242, 362, 416 and 417 
address obstructing rescue operations of trafficking 
victims; Articles 318, 319, 320, 321, 322 and 415 
address transnational trafficking crimes and 
Articles 23, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 and 64 address 
complicity in trafficking crimes. 
 
¶B. Enticing or forcing a woman who has been abducted 
or trafficked to engage in prostitution is 
punishable by not less than ten years in prison 
under Article 240 of the criminal code.  The death 
penalty may be used in especially serious cases. 
 
¶C. China's legal definition of trafficking does not 
recognize the trafficking of men as a crime. 
However, Article 244 of the criminal code 
criminalizes compelling employees to work by 
limiting their personal freedom.  This statute, 
which carries a penalty of not more than three years 
in prison and a fine, has been used to prosecute 
forced male labor.  Chinese authorities have had 
modest success in protecting victims of forced labor 
and there have been several recent high-profile 
cases in which forced laborers have been "rescued" 
from their employers by authorities in sting 
operations. 
 
China's Labor Contract Law, which went into effect 
in January 2008, provides workers and rights defenders 
new legal tools to hold employers accountable for 
illegal labor practices, such as preventing workers 
from exercising their right to leave their jobs. In 
addition, the State Council and 14 ministries, 
including the Ministry of Public Security and the 
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, are 
discussing a revision of China's household 
registration policy with the aim of increasing legal 
protection for migrant workers.  Migrant workers, 
estimated by the International Labor Organization 
(ILO) to number more than 100 million persons, are 
especially vulnerable to trafficking. 
 
¶D. Rape is illegal in China and some persons 
convicted of rape have been executed.  Article 236 
of China's criminal law states that persons 
convicted of rape will be sentenced to not less than 
three but not more than ten years.  Under some 
circumstances, including repeat offenses, gang rape, 
or rape of a minor, the prescribed penalty is not 
less than ten years and can include life 
imprisonment or death. 
 
¶E. According to MPS, China investigated 2,566 
reported cases of trafficking of women or children. 
MPS claims to have "solved" 2,282 of these cases 
although the MPS does not provide detailed 
statistics describing those cases.  In April, state 
media reported that police dismantled a trafficking 
ring that was trafficking elementary and middle 
school students from Liangshan, Sichuan Province, to 
factories in coastal cities.  In June the Fujian 
Provincial High Court reportedly upheld criminal 
sentences for a group of men convicted of 
trafficking more than 130 individuals to various 
countries from 2002 to 2006.  The three ringleaders 
of the group were sentenced to jail terms of 13, 8 
and 5 years.  Between February and July, police in 
Guangdong Province reportedly handled 33 trafficking 
cases and arrested 57 suspects involved in 
 
BEIJING 00000509  003 OF 006 
 
 
trafficking in persons, 15 of whom were foreign 
nationals. 
 
In November, police in Fujian Province cracked a 
trafficking case involving 18 Vietnamese women who 
had been trafficked to Yunnan, Guangxi and other 
provinces in China.  The women were reportedly sold 
into marriages in rural communities for RMB 20,000 
(approximately $3,000) to RMB 30,000 (approximately 
$4,400) each.  In Guizhou Province, state media 
reported that courts heard a case involving 30 
suspects accused of trafficking more than 80 women 
over a four-year period from Guizhou to Shanxi, 
Fujian, Zhejiang and other provinces.  The women 
were led to believe they were being provided 
employment, but instead were trafficked to rural 
areas for forced marriage. 
 
¶F. China has not officially adopted standardized 
guidelines for identification of trafficking 
victims, although guidelines have been developed and 
are currently being considered for approval. The 
Ministry of Civil Affairs is working with the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) on a 
training module on identification, protection, 
recovery and reintegration of trafficking victims 
and is planning to implement a pilot project at 
several of its relief shelters to develop a model 
program for such services. 
 
¶G. China cooperates with other governments in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases. 
In particular, China works with its partners in the 
Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against 
Trafficking (COMMIT) to counter trafficking in 
Southeast Asia.  Southern Chinese provinces often 
work with neighboring countries to combat 
trafficking.  As an example, law enforcement 
officers representing Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous 
Region and Vietnam reportedly meet monthly to 
discuss joint anti-trafficking measures, as well as 
other programs to combat cross-border crime. 
According to the China Law Association, more than 
200 Vietnamese women and children trafficked to 
China have been helped since 2004 through bilateral 
cooperation on this issue.  During the reporting 
period, China signed memoranda of understanding with 
Cambodia and Vietnam on law enforcement cooperation. 
The memoranda covered trafficking cooperation. 
 
¶H. There is no extradition treaty between China and 
the United States.  According to MPS, the decision 
to extradite persons charged with trafficking would 
be made "according to relevant international 
conventions and bilateral agreements." 
 
¶I. There were reports of local officials' complicity 
in both alien smuggling and in prostitution, which 
sometimes involved trafficked women. In some cases 
village leaders sought to prevent police from 
rescuing women who had been sold to villagers. 
However, there is no indication that the government 
sanctions such actions by individual corrupt 
officials. 
 
¶J. In February 2008, the Central Committee on the 
Comprehensive Management of Public Security 
(CCCMPS), China's top public security watch-dog, 
added anti-trafficking measures to its list of 
national priorities for maintaining public security. 
As a result, police facilities around the country, 
including community and civilian police 
installations, were reportedly expanded and improved 
to provide a "safer community environment for the 
general public."  The new priorities also mean that 
government officials' performance is evaluated 
against regulations that prohibit complicity in 
trafficking crimes. 
 
¶K. Both prostitution and the purchasing of sex are 
criminalized under Article 66 of the Law on Public 
Security Administration Punishments. 
 
¶L. To our knowledge, Chinese peacekeepers have not 
been implicated in sex trafficking while overseas. 
 
¶M. China is not a known destination for child sex 
tourists. 
 
Protection and Assistance to Victims 
 
BEIJING 00000509  004 OF 006 
 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶A. China continues to lack comprehensive victim 
protection services, although it is making efforts 
to address this deficiency. The NPA calls for 
strengthening relief and rehabilitation of victims 
by increasing the number of women and children who 
receive training, aid and medical treatment, as well 
as through establishing institutions for relief, 
transfer and rehabilitation. The NPA further 
mandates that rescued women and children should be 
successfully reintegrated into society and agencies 
should "strengthen registration, management and 
protection" by establishing "specialized archives" 
to track victims' rehabilitation progress. 
 
¶B. The Ministry of Civil affairs is working to 
develop a program model for victim identification, 
protection, recovery and reintegration, and plans to 
double its child relief centers, which often serve 
as shelters for trafficking victims, to 300 by 2010. 
The Ministry of Public Security, with the help of UN 
agencies, continues to operate "transfer centers" 
along the border with Vietnam and Burma which 
reportedly provide assistance and rehabilitation 
services for victims. 
 
¶C. Though no nation-wide victim protection service 
exits, local government-funded women's federation 
offices and other women's organizations do provide 
some counseling on legal rights and rehabilitation, 
though lack of funding reportedly limits services in 
some areas. The NPA requires the government to 
"increase the proportion of rescued women who 
receive training, assistance, physiological and 
psychological treatment" as part of efforts to 
enhance "rehabilitation" of victims.  Governments in 
southern border provinces often rely upon NGOs to 
identify victims and provide victim protection 
services due to the lack of resources. Trafficking 
victims are generally returned to their homes 
without extensive rehabilitation. 
 
¶D. Although China provides temporary shelter to 
foreign victims of trafficking, there are no legal 
alternatives to repatriation. Most foreign victims 
are therefore returned to their country of origin 
upon identification. China continues to work 
together with COMMIT members, especially Vietnam and 
Burma, on anti-trafficking programs, and uses its 
Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) in Yunnan and Guangxi 
Provinces to facilitate repatriation of victims. The 
government does not provide foreign victims with 
legal alternatives to removal to countries in which 
they may face hardship or retribution. Some 
trafficking victims have faced punishments in the 
form of fines for leaving China without proper 
authorization. China continues to treat North Korean 
trafficking victims solely as illegal economic 
migrants and has deported victims to North Korea, 
where they may face severe punishment. China 
continues to bar UNHCR from access to the vulnerable 
North Korean population in Northeast China. 
 
¶E. Longer-term care is not provided to victims on a 
consistent basis nationally. While shelters exist, 
it is not clear what care they are able to provide. 
Shelters are often not trafficking specific and so 
may house victims of domestic abuse or other crimes. 
 
¶F. China continues to lack systematic victim 
identification procedures to identify trafficking 
victims among those it arrests for prostitution and 
to refer them to organizations providing services. 
It does not have a comprehensive nationwide victim 
protection service, but has taken some steps to 
improve intra-governmental coordination and 
cooperation in vulnerable southern border provinces. 
 
¶G. According to MPS, the total number of trafficking 
victims identified was 930.  More specific 
statistics were not available. 
 
¶H. China has not officially adopted standardized 
guidelines for identification of trafficking 
victims, although guidelines have been developed and 
are currently being considered for approval.  The 
Ministry of Civil Affairs is working with the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) on a 
training module on identification, protection, 
 
BEIJING 00000509  005 OF 006 
 
 
recovery and reintegration of trafficking victims 
and is planning to implement a pilot project at 
several of its relief shelters to develop a model 
program for such services. 
 
¶I. MPS officials stated that repatriated victims of 
trafficking no longer faced fines or other 
punishment upon return.  However, authorities 
acknowledged that some victims continued to be 
sentenced or fined because of corruption among 
police, provisions allowing for the imposition of 
fines on persons traveling without documentation, 
and the difficulty in identifying victims. 
Trafficking victims often lacked proper 
identification, which made it difficult to 
distinguish them from persons who illegally crossed 
borders. MPS trained border officials to spot 
potential victims of trafficking, and MPS opened two 
border liaison offices on the Burma and Vietnam 
borders to process victims.  However, the ACWF 
reported that ongoing problems required intervention 
to protect trafficking victims from unjust 
treatment. 
 
¶J. Post does not know of any programs to encourage 
victims to assist in the investigation and 
prosecution of traffickers. 
 
¶K. See F, H and I above for discussion of victim 
identification. 
 
¶L. China lacks comprehensive national programs for 
victim rehabilitation including repatriated 
nationals.  However, some NGOs have partnered with 
local government agencies, women's federations and 
the Civil Affairs Bureau to develop programs to fill 
this need.  Save the Children UK (SCUK) has 
implemented programs in Yunnan province aimed at 
assisting trafficking victims following their 
repatriation to China. 
 
¶M. NGOs such as Save the Children UK, the 
International Labor Organization and UNICEF all run 
projects in China to assist trafficking victims. 
These organizations usually work with women's 
federations, the Ministry of Civil Affairs or MPS to 
run shelters for victims and provide training for 
officials and vulnerable groups. For example, in 
2007, UNICEF partnered with the Kunming Public 
Security Bureau to establish a shelter for victims 
and provide psychological consultation. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
 
¶A. China is making strides to increase public 
awareness of the trafficking issue.  The NPA 
stipulates that the government "increase the 
dissemination of anti-trafficking information, 
training and education" in key areas and with at- 
risk populations, as well as with the general public 
and law enforcement officials. Hotlines for victims 
of trafficking and trafficking-related crimes are 
set up across the country in various provinces, 
cities and counties, and are maintained by 
government agencies, associations or youth 
organizations. Targeted public awareness campaigns 
continue in various regions, building on the success 
of the All China Women's Federation (ACWF) "Spring 
Rain" campaign, held in February 2007, in which 
information on trafficking prevention and safe 
employment was disseminated to young female migrant 
workers during the spring migration season across 
five provinces.  Such campaigns usually aim to reach 
young, female audiences, considered the most 
vulnerable to trafficking in China. 
 
¶B. The Chinese government did not provide 
information on any efforts to monitor immigration 
and emigration patterns for evidence of trafficking. 
 
¶C. MPS led the first Inter-Ministerial Joint 
Conference System (IMCS) meeting in October.  The 
meeting comprised 28 agencies and was a follow-up to 
several preparatory meetings on implementing the NPA 
held in June and September. Participants discussed 
rules and regulations, as well as ministerial 
responsibilities for implementing the NPA and 
reviewed problems and difficulties encountered since 
January. 
 
BEIJING 00000509  006 OF 006 
 
 
 
¶D. China's National Plan of Action on Combating 
Trafficking in Women and Children was released by 
the State Council in December of 2007 and took 
effect on January 1, 2008.  During the reporting 
period, China took steps to implement the plan 
including drafting regulations and rules and 
delegating responsibilities among the 28 ministries 
involved. 
 
¶E. Post is not aware of the Chinese government 
taking any measures to reduce demand for commercial 
sex acts. 
 
¶F. Post is not aware of the Chinese government 
taking any measures reduce the participation in 
international child sex tourism by nationals of the 
country. 
 
¶G. China's peacekeepers deployed abroad are kept 
under tight supervision to ensure that no 
opportunity for illegal activity of any kind exists. 
Post is unaware of any instances of Chinese 
peacekeepers being implicated in trafficking. 
 
---------------- 
POINT OF CONTACT 
---------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The point of contact for this submission is 
Political Officer Brooke Spelman, tel.: 86-10 8531- 
4381; fax:86-10 8531-3525.  Estimated hours spent 
preparing this submission:  90.  (Thirty hours to 
compile and edit the above material and sixty hours 
in the field obtaining information.) 
PICCUTA