BEIJING: Chinese courts are ramping up efforts to tackle new forms of human trafficking.
The Supreme People’s Court in a release on Thursday said the number of abductions and trafficking crimes involving children and women in China has shown a significant decline, with a nearly 78 percent drop in 2025 compared with the peak in 2012.
However, while traditional methods of trafficking, such as abductions, have declined, there has been a rise in cases where the internet and fraudulent relationships are being used to facilitate trafficking.
For instance, the use of coded language to post information and conduct transactions online transcends geographical boundaries and is highly covert, posing challenges to investigations and judicial processes, the nation’s highest court said.
The top court said that it is intensifying research into these new challenges and working to clarify legal standards to ensure consistency in rulings by formulating relevant judicial interpretations or documents and by publicizing notable cases.
In one case revealed on Thursday, an individual surnamed Qiu was sentenced to life imprisonment for exploiting six women with mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities under the guise of arranging marriages from 2018 to March 2021. He sold them as wives for a profit of 190,000 yuan ($27,600) and raped two of them.
In another case, a woman surnamed Chen received a seven-year prison sentence and a 100,000 yuan fine for obtaining children’s information online and deceiving others by claiming she was infertile and eager to adopt. She used these pretenses to acquire and sell three infants, illegally profiting over 130,000 yuan.
Zhao Li, a criminal lawyer at Beijing Jingsh Law Firm, acknowledged these new trends, revealing that traffickers also lure people with group travel and online romances, in addition to arranging marriages and promises of high-paying jobs.
He noted that trafficking of normal adult women under the guise of marriage is rare, and most victims are intellectually disabled individuals from economically disadvantaged areas. “Once these women are taken to remote areas and sold, their ability to seek help or report the crime is severely hindered, posing a big challenge to current legal practice,” he said. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
