In a bid to better manage the large foreign population, the city of Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province has set up a special team to inspect the documents of foreigners anywhere in the city, local newspaper Yangcheng Evening News reported Wednesday.

Government data shows Guangzhou had around 118,000 legal foreign residents as of late October, among which 16,000 were from Africa. The number does not include foreigners who entered or worked illegally, which is the purpose of the inspection.

The team consists of police and special force officers, plainclothesmen and interpreters. They have been checking passports and residence papers in areas frequented by foreigners. Those without legitimate ID papers will be taken to a police station for verification.

Several rounds of inspections on Monday went through smoothly without conflict, although some foreigners resisted, according to the Yangcheng Evening News.

With an increasing number of foreign residents, Guangzhou has strengthened management and inspection in recent years, screening out illegal foreigners.

One of the major goals is to prevent cross-border crimes, wherein foreigners with criminal records entered the city with fake documents, said an exit and entry officer.

The city has launched a portrait matching system to prevent such misconduct, said the officer.