China says it may deport badly behaved foreigners

Beijing, Mar 1: China may deport foreigners who buy or sell sex, steal or get involved in fights under new laws that come into effect today (Mar 1, 2006), state newspapers reported.

Large numbers of foreigners in China were involved in prostitution or had visited sex workers, got involved in fights or stolen, the People's Daily quoted Wu Mingshan, vice head of the public security ministry's management office, as saying.

In the past few years prostitution has made a strong comeback in China despite being banned by the Communists after they took power in 1949. It flourishes particularly in the country's booming coastal provinces.

In cities such as Beijing, which is expecting an influx of tens of thousands of foreigners for the Olympics in 2008, and Shanghai it is not uncommon to find prostitutes from parts of the former Soviet Union or other nations, charging a premium over their Chinese counterparts.

The new laws also detail penalties for other offences, including sending pornographic messages by mobile phone, raising pets that harass neighbours and disturbing public order at sports or cultural events, the China Daily said.

Punishment for such crimes would range from warnings to fines, 15 days in detention and expulsion from the country, it said.

"No matter which article foreigners violate, there will be risks of being deported," public security ministry official Ke Liangdong was quoted as saying.

Related clauses of the new law require karaoke clubs, discos and nightclubs, notorious fronts for prostitution and drugs in China, to install video-monitoring equipment and put windows in doors of private back rooms normally rented by the hour.

REUTERS