Police forces of both Macao and neighboring Guangdong Province in south China will strengthen cooperation in the future to combat organized crimes, a senior Chinese police official said on December 8.

"While observing the 'one country, two systems' principle, police departments in Guangdong will make active efforts to expand the exchange and cooperation with Macao police in cracking down on organized crimes and safeguard public security in the two areas," said Chen Shaoji, director of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department.

Chen made the remarks at an exclusive interview with Xinhua after attending the 33rd Guangdong-Macao Security Conference here on Tuesday. Such Conferences had been held twice a year since 1983. Chen went back to Guangdong Wednesday.

After Macao's return to the motherland on December 20, Guangdong police will carry out tighter controls along the boundary between Guangdong and Macao so as to ensure that all those entering and leaving Macao bear legal certificates, the director said.

Cheong Kuok Va, secretary-designate for security of the future Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), also told the media recently that he is confident about better public security in the SAR, noting that the close cooperation between police forces in the two places is vital for fighting crimes.

Likely, the SAR's chief executive-designate Edmund Ho Hau Wah reiterated on different occasions that the Macao SAR government will take resolute measures to tackle the problem of public security.

In the run-up to Macao's power transfer from Portugal to China, some gang members attempted to reap profits before the handover. In the meantime, the number of kidnapping and murdering cases is also on the increase.

As the handover is drawing near, police forces in Macao have exerted decisive efforts to round up criminal suspects, and local judicial organs have made serious rulings about several organized crimes.

On the other hand, the combat against crimes in Macao is well coordinated by the police in Guangdong. In addition to the regular security conferences attended by senior security officials, senior liaison officers from both sides have been named to make contacts at any time.

Technically, Guangdong police have given full support to their counterparts in Macao. In particular, Guangdong specialists usually help offer vital analysis about some serious criminal cases.

"To ensure that the handover goes on smoothly, Guangdong police this year put on special file 12 major criminal cases, all of which were involved in trans-boundary crimes," Chen Shaoji said. "Up to now, eight cases have been cracked with effective cooperation with police in Macao."

He noted that such kind of police cooperation will benefit Guangdong as well as Macao in terms of fighting crimes and maintaining good social order.

"The cooperation will not be weakened after Macao's return to the motherland, but will be strengthened," he stressed.