China aids fight against drug trade

China aids fight against drug trade

BANGKOK (Reuters): China has encouraged Myanmar's ethnic
groups to grow sugarcane instead of narcotic drugs, visiting
Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao told Thailand's prime minister,
a Thai official said on Thursday.

Hu, who visited Myanmar before arriving in Thailand, had told
premier Chuan Leekpai during a meeting on Wednesday that
Myanmar's military rulers had informed him they took the drugs
problem seriously but could not eradicate it completely, the
official said.

The reason they gave, Hu had said, was that ethnic groups
along the Myanmar-Thai border continued to grow and trade drugs.

The Chinese leader also had said that China sponsored a crop
substitution project for the ethnic groups to grow sugarcane and
had pledged to buy the sugar.