By Wang Yan
KUNMING, Feb. 24 -- As three law enforcement boats set sail at Jingha Port, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, at 9 a.m. on February 23, the 102nd China-Laos-Myanmar-Thailand joint patrol on Mekong River officially kicked off, according to a news release by the Press Office of Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department.
According to a report by the Joint Command of the patrol, the four sides will adopt a combination of full-line and segmented patrols to carry out this joint patrol and law enforcement operation. They will strengthen the management and control of key water areas of the Mekong River and build a dense safety net for pandemic control.
Before the operation, the commanders from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand held a multilateral information exchange meeting through video conference. The four parties notified and exchanged information on the recent security situation in the Mekong River Basin, as well as the works on the fight against drug cases and the COVID-19 pandemic. Law-enforcement authorities of the four countries unanimously agreed to hold a commendation ceremony for the 100-day operation on the crime of smuggling across the Mekong River in a non-contact manner during the joint patrol.
