But China might not co-operate on smuggling

LUO XING POINT, China - From a windswept lookout perched over the sea routes to Canada, Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan vowed yesterday to make human smugglers pay a heavy price for trafficking in broken dreams.

Caplan trekked to this historic point - known locally as ``the place where one catches the stars'' - to bring her message about Canada's crackdown to the people of Fujian.

Fujianese migrants - such as the boat people caught off Canada's West Coast last summer - are known to visit Luo Xing Point before making their illegal voyages across the Pacific Ocean. But Caplan's words of warning may not travel far across this coastal province.

On a blustery April afternoon, only a handful of Canadian journalists dutifully recorded her carefully choreographed photo op, and few Fujianese media showed much interest. There were no ordinary Chinese - let alone aspiring migrants - in the vicinity as Caplan's eight-car motorcade sped to the lookout, where a 7-storey tower stands.

Undeterred, the ministerial motorcade darted to the rain-slicked container terminal of Fuzhou, the capital of this coastal province, for an inspection tour. Once again, she lectured her audience about Canada's get-tough policy, but found herself comparing notes on prison sentences with a local prosecutor - preaching to the converted.

Still, Caplan told whoever would listen yesterday that they had to crush the so-called snakeheads who smuggle humans across the world, and extort huge sums from their clients.

``We want them to know the penalties, so that they won't do this,'' Caplan told Lin Xin Hua, the director of Fuzhou's political and legal committee, as they stood among a clutch of officials and security guards at the sprawling container terminal where migrants sometimes try to hitch rides on eastbound freighters.

``That's one of the reasons I have come, is to help you warn them.''

Lin responded helpfully, if somewhat improbably, that Chinese officials go door to door in Fujian warning locals of the perils of illegal voyages to North America.

Caplan unveiled legislation this month that would tighten the criteria for refugee claimants, and impose sentences of up to life imprisonment and $1 million fines for snakeheads and their accomplices.

But it's unclear how much progress Caplan is making with the Chinese government. Publicly, officials vow to smash the snakeheads; privately, they hector Canada for granting refugee hearings to migrants who claim they are fleeing persecution in China.

``They don't like that, I understand that,'' Caplan told reporters yesterday, when asked about China's complaints.

In recent years, China has dragged its feet on repatriating migrants whose refugee claims were rejected. The government here has offered to take back migrants by the boatload, but objects vigorously to Canada's policy of screening claimants on a case-by-case basis.

Of the 600 boat people who arrived off Canada's coastline last year, nine have so far been deemed refugees, 350 are considering whether to appeal their rejections, and 100 are ready to be repatriated. But the Chinese government has created a bottleneck by failing to process the necessary paperwork.

Now Caplan is urging China to speed up repatriation of these rejected migrants, to demonstrate that smuggling doesn't pay. If China delays much further, Ottawa may be forced to let the migrants stay in Canada, offering fresh incentives to the snakeheads to recruit more customers, Caplan warned.

``If we don't succeed in doing that (repatriation), then we can't send the message,'' Caplan said in an interview yesterday.

The minister said there were ``several tense moments'' when she told top Chinese politicians that their pressure tactics wouldn't persuade Canada to compromise on its principles. During meetings with Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Public Security Minister Jia Chunwang in Beijing, Caplan said the Charter of Rights and Canada's refugee determination process were not on the table.

The minister said she detected a new willingness by the Chinese to work with Canada on the issue, but is uncertain how far they will go.

From the interview, Caplan shuttled directly to a meeting with the vice-governor of Fujian province, Qiu Guangzhong, in a government reception hall.