NARCOTICS
RESTRICTED
2732 MDLIAN 6448
5. TAO REVEALED THAT DRUG PROBLEMS WERE BECOMING MORE ACUTE, ESPECIALLY IN BORDER AREAS. 4.5 TONNES OF HEROIN WERE SEIZED IN 1992. OF THIS 3.9 TONNES WERE FROM YUNNAN. DRUG TRAFFICKERS HAD ALSO STARTED TO PROCESS ''ICE'' IN CHINA FOR EXPORT ABROAD. CHINA WOULD STEP UP ITS EFFORTS TO FIGHT THE DRUG PROBLEM, INCLUDING THROUGH INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION. TAO DID NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SUGGEST THE INCREASE IN NARCOTICS CRIMES WAS FOREIGN-INSPIRED.
POLICE CORRUPTION
6. ASKED BY A FOREIGN JOURNALIST ABOUT POLICE CORRUPTION, TAO ADMITTED THAT THERE WERE ISOLATED CASES OF POLICE COLLUDING WITH PIMPS AND PROSTITUTES, BUT THAT THIS WAS NOT WIDESPREAD. HE SAID THAT EACH YEAR THE POLICE DEALT SEVERELY WITH ''SCUM'' (BAILEI) IN THEIR OWN RANKS AND WOULD CONTINUE TO ROOT OUT CORRUPTION.
POLITICAL PRISONERS
7. TAO DISMISSED REPORTS THAT PRISONERS DETAINED AFTER TIANANMEN (INCLUDING WANG JUNTAO AND BAO TONG) WERE IN BAD HEALTH. WANG JUNTAO'S HEALTH WAS, AS FAR AS HE KNEW, NORMAL AND HE HAD RECUPERATED WELL AFTER HIS EARLIER LIVER COMPLAINT. BAO TOO WAS IN NORMAL HEALTH, FOLLOWING MEDICAL TREATMENT. ASKED ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF AN AMNESTY, TAO SAID THAT ALL STUDENTS INVOLVED IN THE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT HAD BEEN FREED, BUT SOME ''KEY CRIMINALS'' WERE STILL IN PRISON. THERE WOULD BE NO SPECIAL AMNESTY.
HONG KONG
8.
WHEN ASKED ABOUT CHINA'S ATTITUDE TO TRIAD ORGANISATIONS TAO SAID IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO GENERALISE. CHINA VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED GROUPS WHICH COMMITTED CRIMES BUT ENCOURAGED THEM TO BID FAREWELL TO EVIL AND TURN TO GOOD. NOT ALL TRIADS WERE CRIMINALS. CHINA WOULD UNITE WITH THOSE WHO LOVED THE MOTHERLAND AND HONG KONG AND WHO WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO PROSPERITY AND STABILITY IN THE TERRITORY.
9. ALSO ON HONG KONG, TAO REVEALED TO REPORTERS HONG KONG POLICE COMMISSIONER LI KWANHA'S FORTHCOMING VISIT TO PEKING AND EXPRESSED SATISFACTION WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC SECURITY LIAISON OFFICERS STATIONED IN HONG KONG. HE SAID THAT CO-OPERATION BETWEEN
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