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FM Spokesman on Illegal Immigration Case in Dover
The Chinese government strongly condemns the illegal immigration activities and calls for cooperation among the international community to crack down on the organizers, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao.
Zhu made the remarks in Beijing Thursday at the regular press conference when commenting on the death of 58 illegal immigrants in the English port of Dover recently.
"We were shocked to learn the news. We deeply regret their death and send our condolences to all the victims' families," he said.
"We believe it is a transnational crime deliberately plotted, organized and instigated by the `snake heads' -- human being traffickers," Zhu said.
China is opposed to any form of illegal immigration and will spare no efforts to crack down on such activities, he said.
He said clamping down on gangs of international organized crime is an important and effective means to stop stowaway and illegal immigration.
It should be noted that those criminal gangs, taking advantage of the flaws in the laws of some countries, very often get illegal immigrants to apply for political asylum in their target countries and they often succeed.
The tragedy in Dover should help the international community especially those target countries wake up to the reality to stop the loopholes, and relevant countries should cooperate to crack down on inhuman trafficking in human beings, he said.
Zhu said that relevant Chinese departments, closely following the results of the investigation, have been keeping close contact and cooperation with British counterparts and are ready to provide further assistance on the matter.
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