MAINLAND APPEALS FOR GLOBAL ANTI-DRUG EFFORT

The mainland appealed on Tuesday for stronger global co-operation in
fighting narcotics trafficking.

The appeal, made in speeches and papers at a conference of the
Interpol international police organisation, marked the mainland's
latest call for help in fighting drug abuse and underscored its
frustration in fending off the peril.

''As anti-drug law enforcers, we soberly know that cultivation,
production and consumption of drugs is ceaselessly spreading and
developing around the world,'' Public Security Minister Jia Chunwang
said opening the Interpol anti-heroin conference.

Mr Jia said the mainland's biggest threat came from heroin made in the
Golden Triangle, the notorious drug-producing region in Burma, Laos
and other parts of Southeast Asia on China's southwest rim. But he
said China was increasingly concerned about opium and heroin from
Afghanistan.

New types of drugs, especially the methamphetamine known as ''ice,''
were also making inroads, Mr Jia's deputies warned in papers to be
given during the four-day conference and released on Tuesday.

The mainland has become the preferred shipment route for heroin and
ice that, as of last year, was being produced in 74 factories in Burma
and Laos, said Chen Cunyi, of the Public Security Ministry.

Chinese police confiscated 5.3 tonnes of heroin last year and cracked
187 cases involving smuggling of ice, mostly from the Golden Triangle,
Mr Chen said.