An increasing number of foreign women, mostly from the bordering countries of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, are being abducted and trafficked into China, according to a report by the China Daily.

The number of foreign women trafficked to China is definitely rising, Chen Shiqu, director of the office for combating human trafficking in the Ministry of Public Security, told the paper.

Most of these women eagerly want to find jobs in China or marry rich Chinese men to escape poverty. In North China's Hebei province, police have rescued 206 trafficked foreign brides since April 2009, mainly from Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, according to figures from the provincial public security department.

When these victims are smuggled into China by river or along obscure roads in forests or mountainous areas, they often find themselves sold in rural Chinese areas as brides for local villagers, with a price ranging from 20,000 ($3,145) to 50,000 yuan, or forced to work as prostitutes.

The criminals usually look for women from rural areas in their 20s and 30s. They then use the suggestion of high-salaried jobs as bait. After the women agree, the traffickers arrange for them to illegally bypass border checkpoints by taking them along small roads in the forest or mountain areas, or illegally entering China by river.

China has signed the Mekong River Sub-Regional Cooperation Anti-Trafficking Memo with Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia and established an annual meeting of senior officials to help curb international trafficking. Beijing has also set up eight border offices with neighboring countries, such as Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos, to combat trafficking.

Thailand Thailand Thailand China