Beijing, Dec 5 (IANS) An increasing number of foreign women, mostly from China’s bordering countries of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, are being trafficked into the country on false promises of jobs or marriage, a top official said.
These women are generally promised jobs in China or marriage to wealthy Chinese men, Chen Shiqu, director of the anti-human trafficking office at China’s ministry of public security, told China Daily.
According to the public security department of Hebei province, police have rescued at least 206 ‘abducted foreign brides’ in the province since April 2009.
The official said the traffickers tend to target women in their 20s and 30s from rural areas and use as bait the prospect of living more affluent lives in a big city.
The women are smuggled into China by river routes or along obscure roads in forests or mountainous areas.
They often find themselves sold in rural Chinese areas as brides for local villagers, with prices ranging from 20,000 yuan ($3,140) to 50,000 yuan ($7,860).
They are sometimes forced to work as prostitutes, he said.
A 22-year-old Myanmarese woman was sold as a bride to a mentally-disabled villager in Jiangsu province for 30,000 yuan, the report said.
The girl was rescued by police six months later when she reported that her husband sexually abused and beat her. She was then sent back to Myanmar.
Police launched a crackdown in the border areas from July to September, arrested 53 suspects and saved 52 Vietnamese women and 13 children, Chen said.
