China warned yesterday that Europe is now the preferred destination for thousands of its illegal immigrants following the tightening up of borders in other parts of the world.
A senior Chinese immigration official said lax immigration policies throughout EU member-states would attract large numbers of migrants from China in the coming months.
After years where the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia were the preferred targets of professional Chinese traffickers, or "snakeheads", Europe is the new target, a spokesman with the Foreign Ministry immigration section told a news conference in Beijing yesterday.
While he did not have exact figures, the official estimated that there were 100,000 illegal Chinese immigrants around the world at any one time.
He said China found it more difficult to curb the numbers due to open internal borders, liberal asylum policies and the absence of a co-ordinated approach to the illegal trafficking problem from EU member-states.
Last June, the bodies of 58 Chinese were found in a truck at the British port of Dover after they had suffocated during the journey. Following the tragedy, the EU called on China to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and to clamp down on Chinese "snakehead" gangs.
An EU delegation will discuss the issue with Chinese officials during a visit to Beijing next Monday and Tuesday.
Yesterday's news conference was told that the price of an illegal passage to Europe from China was between $10,000 and $20,000, much less than the minimum $30,000 to get to North America.
The immigration spokesman said China was up against highly professional trafficking rings which changed not only target countries but tactics in response to changing conditions. For example, they had turned to air travel after a clampdown on sea trafficking.
Most illegal Chinese immigrants went to the United States in 1995-96. Australia was the target in 1997, while Japan and Canada were the favoured destinations in the last few years. "It is now Europe's turn," the official said.
Last month the leader of the "snakehead" gang allegedly responsible for the deaths of the 58 people found dead in Dover was arrested by Chinese police in Fujian province, the main centre of illegal trafficking activity in southern China. The man, Mr Chen Xiaokong, was arrested in a discotheque during the Chinese New Year holiday.
Three special police teams had mounted an eight-hour surveillance operation before making the arrest. Chen had topped police "most wanted" lists in the province after disappearing late last year while under investigation for his part in the human smuggling syndicates.
The authorities believe he was also responsible for smuggling his accomplices to Canada in the wake of the disaster at Dover.