CHINA has admitted for the first time to world shipping authorities that ''a few law enforcement officers'' may have been involved in smuggling and other incidents along the coast - but it claims some reports of piracy are ''groundless and very irresponsible''.
Smuggling has now become ''rampant'' along the coast, it admits in a paper presented to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), but it says it has investigated all incidents and, according to Chinese sources, they were ''very complicated''.
The Maritime Safety Committee of the IMO will meet between May 16-24 in London to consider what steps to take next in combatting the growing menace of piracy in the region.
Around 80 of the 149 members states are expected to attend, with China sending a team from Beijing. Hong Kong, which has associate status within the organisation, will send a team headed by Derek Hall, a former director of the Marine Department.
According to the IMO, piracy in the region is still on the increase, with 42 incidents reported in the east and south regions of the China Sea in the seven months to the end of last year - out of 67 worldwide.
IMO findings show 20 of them along the coast north and south of Shanghai, with the majority of the rest around the Philippines. Several countries have submitted papers to the IMO, often detailing particular incidents.
But in a statement indicating what some will see as an official reluctance to be too frank, the Chinese paper says: ''The manifestations of the incidents were varied. Therefore it is not proper to regard all these incidents as 'pirate attacks' without investigation and evidence.
