China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have announced that they will
conduct a two-month joint campaign against drug-related crimes on the
Mekong River, which will start on April 20.
Representatives of the four nations said despite the recent improvement
in the overall security situation on the river, narcotics crimes
continue to be rampant, partly due to the region’s lagging
socio-economic development.
According to Xinhua, under
the campaign, the four countries will jointly crack down on a series of
major trans-regional drug-trafficking cases, break major narcotics
production chains and hunt drug-related fugitives.
By doing so, they expect to foster their mutual trust and boost trans-regional capabilities in repressing drug offenders.
Maintaining security on the Mekong river is necessary for creating a
“safe shipping route” in this “Golden Triangle area”, they affirmed./.