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The following article is from The Vancouver Sun newspaper in Vancouver

BC, one of Canada's most respected dailies.  Its website is at

http://www.vancouversun.com/.



RCMP likely to go to China to combat people smuggling



As another migrant ship arrives, diplomats sign a deal to let police

work in the source region.



Peter O'Neil, Sun Ottawa Bureau Vancouver Sun



Picture Of: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun / LATEST BOATLOAD: The latest

group of illegal Chinese migrants is lined up on deck of  the HMCS

Huron after being taken off their ship in Nootka Sound off the west

coast of Vancouver Island.

OTTAWA -- Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy expressed confidence

Friday that RCMP officers will be allowed to enter China in an effort

to combat people-smuggling to Canada.

Axworthy said Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan agreed at a meeting

in New Zealand that a recent Chinese-Canadian memorandum of

understanding on crime-fighting will be invoked to permit Canadian

police to work with Fujian authorities to expand efforts against the

smugglers.

The development came as another 150 to 170 illegal migrants, all

believed to be from China, were sent to detention facilities at CFB

Esquimalt on Friday.

The migrants were aboard a freighter that tried to evade a Canadian

navy warship when it was intercepted off the B.C. coast Thursday night.

At least four other ships have tried to smuggle Chinese migrants into

Canada since July. The latest arrivals bring to nearly 600 the number

of illegal migrants to land in B.C. this summer.

Axworthy reported on the progress with Chinese officials in a

conference call from Auckland, where he and Secretary of

State Raymond Chan are attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation

meeting.

"The Chinese foreign minister agreed that under that memorandum there

would be areas of cooperation for Canadian officials, police officials,

to go to Fujian, to share information, to work together on whatever

interdiction," Axworthy said.

He said he's asked Liberal MPs Sophia Leung (Vancouver Kingsway) and

Bill Graham (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) to reinforce Canada's request

when they meet with Chinese officials next week as part of a

parliamentary delegation.

Leung, who leaves for China tomorrow as part of the delegation to

explore political and trade issues, said China's offer to meet is a

major step.

"The Chinese government is showing they're willing to work with us,"

Leung said Friday. "Normally they will say it's our internal welfare,

and really not your business, so this is significant."

She said addressing the issue of people smuggling is the most urgent

item on the agenda.

The delegation will try to persuade the Chinese government to pass

stiffer laws against smugglers and crack down on organized crime gangs.

Leung will also ask Chinese government officials to dispel the myth

that Canada, known by some as the "Gold Mountain" for its booming

economy, is the place to go to strike it rich.

"We do not want to give them false hope and dreams," she said.

There is a risk, however, in cooperating with Chinese authorities.

Canadian officials in China have complained recently that they are

unable to work with Chinese authorities because of fear that

information-sharing could heighten migrants' fear of retribution if

they return, and therefore strengthen their refugee claims.

Axworthy and Chan also pressed the foreign minister at the meeting to

ease up on a policy that makes it difficult for Canada to deport bogus

refugee claimants.

There are usually about 500 Chinese citizens annually whose refugee

claims are rejected, but typically only about 25 are returned because

of China's stringent requirement that they must prove they are Chinese

nationals, Chan said.

The number of "deportables" who were returned jumped to 100 last year,

but only because of intervention from senior Chinese officials, said

Chan, the MP for Richmond.

He said it's difficult to judge whether Beijing will relax its

identification policy in relation to any of the hundreds of smuggled

Chinese who recently landed in B.C. if they lose their refugee claims.

He said the U.S., Australia and Germany are among many countries

experiencing a similar problem, although American officials disclosed

this week that they have already deported 141 migrants, intercepted on

Aug. 15, back to Fujian province.

Chan said bogus refugee claimants who can't be deported often live in

uncertainty for five or 10 years without getting Canadian residency

status.

"Usually they are able to work. There is also a lot of [public] concern

about welfare, but statistics will show many of these people, these

refugee claimants, will be able to find a job between three months and

half a year," he said.

"Usually they don't hang around to just collect welfare."

Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the Immigration and Refugee Board says it

could take at least a year before the most recent boatload of Chinese

migrants has their refugee claims decided.

Nurjehan Mawani said Friday the board is sending four of its

specialists in Asian refugee claims to B.C. in order to accelerate the

hearings process. But she conceded it may be at least a year before the

most recent migrants have their cases decided.

The board is under pressure to deal with the cases quickly and send a

message to smugglers that Canada is not a soft target. But Mawani said

it must balance the need for an expeditious process with the law's

demand for fairness.

"There are people who think we should just send the migrants back," she

said. "But it's clear we have a job to do under the law and it requires

that there be due process."

China said earlier this week it has asked Canada to repatriate all

illegal Chinese migrants -- and that none of them are political

refugees.

China would not accept Canada's decision to accept applications for

refugee status by some of the migrants, said foreign ministry spokesman

Sun Yuxi.

"Political persecution does not exist in China," Sun said.

Most of the migrants were just farmers and to accept their applications

would only encourage illegal migration, he added.

-- with files from Petti Fong and Jeff Lee in Vancouver, Southam News

and Reuters





The article you just read is from The Vancouver Sun newspaper in

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