The Chinese government is succeeding against human trafficking and firmly opposes irresponsible remarks from the US, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"The Chinese government firmly resolves to crack down on human trafficking and has achieved clear results. We resolutely oppose irresponsible remarks made by the US on other countries' efforts against human trafficking in accordance with its own laws," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a daily conference on Tuesday.

"Human trafficking is a problem faced by many countries and no country is immune. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with other countries on cracking down on human trafficking based on mutual trust," Lu said.

The US plans to place China on its global list of worst human trafficking and forced labor offenders, according to a congressional source and a person familiar with the matter, Reuters reported on Tuesday.



A US Department of State release says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will unveil the 2017 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report on Tuesday at the US State Department, and will be joined by Presidential Adviser Ivanka Trump.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act states that the TIP report assesses government efforts around the world to combat human trafficking. This year's report, the 17th installment, includes narratives for 187 countries and territories, including the US.

Tillerson has decided to drop China to "Tier 3," the lowest grade, putting it alongside Iran, North Korea and Syria, among others, said the sources, who have knowledge of the internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.

The annual report places each country onto one of three tiers based on the extent of their governments' efforts to crack down on human trafficking, with Tier One being the highest ranking and Tier Three the lowest.

A Tier One ranking indicates that a government has been fully committed to fighting human tracking. A Tier Two means a government is trying to battle human trafficking, and a Tier Three means a government has done little. There is also a Tier Two Watch List, in which governments are likely to descend to Tier Three.

Global Times



