China says it is beefing up efforts with US to combat smuggling

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China is strengthening enforcement with nations such as the United States to combat smuggling and other serious crimes, state media reported on Friday, citing the country's National Immigration Administration.

Smugglers and cross-border criminal groups at home and abroad have recently been "deceiving some people to participate in smuggling activities", the administration said, without giving a specific time period or clarifying whether the smuggling involved goods, people or both.

"During this period, the personal safety of individuals was seriously threatened, causing great economic losses, and some even paid the price of their lives."

The administration and law enforcement departments of countries, including the United States, are jointly cracking down on smuggling and other serious violations and crimes on "the basis of mutual respect and consultation on an equal footing", it said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The United States has this year deported Chinese people who sought to enter the country illegally back to China with charter flights.

The difficulty of obtaining U.S. visas and the economic aftershocks of China's COVID-19 lockdowns led to a sharp increase in Chinese nationals presenting at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nearly 56,000 Chinese migrants have been encountered at the Southwest border with Mexico and the northern border with Canada crossing both between and at ports of entry in the 2024 fiscal year through May, according to U.S. government data.

That is more than the 52,700 that crossed in the entire 2023 fiscal year that ended in October.

(Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Jamie Freed)