Chinese coast guards braved heavy winds and high tides Thursday to launch a large-scale exercise in the Yellow Sea, according to Senior Colonel Zhou Fuxiang, of the Border Administration of the Ministry of Public Security.

Maritime police forces under the public security bureaus of Liaoning, Shandong and Hebei provinces and Tianjin Municipality joined in the offshore maneuver in the northern part of the Yellow Sea.

It indicates that a coordinated mechanism among coast guards ofthe four areas has taken shape to deal with rampant criminal activities in Bohai and the Yellow sea, the officer said.

A handful of locals armed with advanced equipment have been engaged in illegal activities including human trafficking, smuggling, stealing and robbery as well as unlicensed fishing in the area.

The Border Administration has increased financial support to the coast guards and occasionally organized joint actions with coastal provinces and cities.

For instance, the Border Administration has financed Liaoning Province, northeast China, to arm its coastal guard with advanced patrol yachts GPS equipment and wireless direction finders.

Over the past three years, Liaoning's maritime police have captured a total of 2,177 boats involved in illegal activities, arrested 456 suspected sneakers and 33 human-smugglers, and rescued 85 people from home and abroad.

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2005)