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Tuesday April 25 10:22 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - Canada and China are working together to speed up the process of returning illegal Chinese immigrants who flock to Canada, Canadian Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan said Tuesday.
``The government of Canada appreciates the cooperation of Chinese officials in facilitating the return of these individuals,'' Caplan told business delegates and reporters in Beijing.
``It is our hope that these cooperative efforts will continue.''
When asked what would be the fate of the immigrants after they were returned to China, Caplan said she was also concerned
over it, but did not elaborate.
Caplan arrived in China on April 20 for a nine-day visit and met top Chinese officials including Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, State Councillor Luo Gan and Minister of Public Security Jia Chunwang, whom she has invited to visit Canada.
Wednesday, she will head to the eastern province of Fujian to meet the provincial governor and the head of the province's Public Security Bureau.
She said 289 ``snakeheads'' -- agents who arrange illegal emigration from China -- were arrested in Fujian last year and another 171 were detained this year.
Last year some 600 illegal immigrants from Fujian arrived on Canada's west coast on ships and immediately sought refugee status.
Some of them said they had promised the people-smugglers up to $60,000 each for their passage.
``This deplorable trade in human beings has increased considerably over the past few years, and countries all over the world have been affected by it,'' Caplan said.
She quoted the United Nations as saying up to four million people were smuggled across national borders each year globally and the human trafficking business was estimated at $10 billion
annually.
Caplan said Canada was actively involved in developing a U.N. Convention to combat transnational organized crime, and a related protocol on migrant smuggling.
``My hope is that it won't be too long... before we have both the convention and the protocol that Canada has taken a lead to develop,'' she told a news conference.
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