AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - Prime Minister Chretien says Canada won't be changing its immigration laws to deal with the influx of migrants from China.

• INDEPTH: Chinese Immigration
  

He asked the Chinese president for his cooperation in dealing with the problem.

"I told him that we need their collaboration because they could hopefully stop the departure of these ships from the coast of China," Chretien told reporters at the summit.

Chretien said China's president promised to do what he can to stop the influx.

He said China had agreed to invoke a year-old agreement that would allow Canadian police on Chinese soil to investigate the human smuggling ring.

On Saturday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy said Canadian police working in China could not only keep track of illegal smuggling operations but may even be able to stop them before they happen.

Chretien also responded to earlier comments made by China's Foreign Minister that the migrants want to go to Canada because it has lax immigration laws.

Chretien said Canada is a generous country that has had this situation for a long time.

Meanwhile, officials continued to question the migrants Sunday at CFB Esquimalt near Victoria, where they are being temporarily housed.

Officials there spent Friday preparing a new compound for the migrants.

It is being built near the converted gymnasium where the others have been staying.

Taking care of the migrants is becoming more expensive. Officials say they're spending about $200,000 a week on each boatload

That figure does not include the cost of police and military personnel involved in capturing them at sea.

In addition to the four ships that have been seized, a fifth ship was spotted off the Queen Charlotte Islands but is believed to have sunk before it could be apprehended.

The passengers on that ship are believed to have slipped into Canada undetected.