Guangzhou Unveils Anti-smuggling AchievementGuangzhou, the provincial capital of south China's Guangdong, has been hugely successful in its unified anti-smuggling efforts from January to July.The Guangzhou customs uncovered 79 money smuggling cases in the first seven months, which involved a total of 10 million yuan. The customs found that the currency intended to be carried into the mainland was all renminbi, while that heading out was mainly U.S. dollars and Hong Kong dollars. Most of the money was carried by overseas travelers. Experts of the Guangzhou customs gave several reasons for the increase in smuggling. First, the opening of China's B-share market has increased the demand for foreign currencies on the domestic stock markets. Some travelers intended to take renminbi out of the mainland to exchange for foreign currencies abroad. Second, the new listings of domestic state enterprises in Hong Kong promoted many residents living in the mainland, especially along the Pearl River near Hong Kong, to carry Hong Kong dollars out to buy H-shares. Third, changing of renminbi with foreign currency is more convenient in Hong Kong than in the mainland, so some Hong Kong businessmen who had factories in the mainland brought in illegally exchanged Renminbi to pay their employees. Fortunately, the linking of computer systems between local customs and the foreign exchange administrations has helped to foil many of such attempts, said the expert. China has tightened its supervision over the financial market over the past few months, and the anti-smuggling drive is a key part of the effort. |
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