More than 40,000 hectares of opium poppies in the "Golden Triangle" region have been replaced by crops such as rubber, tea and fruit over the past decade thanks to cooperation between China, Myanmar and Laos, according to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

The poppy planting acreage in this region accounted for 12 percent of the world total in 2006, compared with 66 percent in 1998, said a Chinese official at a conference on anti-drug cooperation in the East Asia sub-region, which opened here on Tuesday.

The so-called "Golden Triangle" area, located on the borders of Mekong countries, including Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, is not only an internationally notorious drug production base, but also blamed as one of the major sources for Chinese drug dealers.

Zhang Xinfeng, Vice Minister of Public Security, said China had invested more than 500 million yuan (64.94 million U.S. dollars) to help poppy replacement planting in Myanmar and Laos over the past decade.

International drug crimes had been effectively curbed after a number of cases were cracked with cooperation of China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, Zhang said.

China and Myanmar launched satellite remote sensing monitoring on the traditional poppy planting areas in northern Myanmar in 2006. China also donated 10,000 tons of rice to the areas where poppy planting was banned and people were short of food in north Myanmar last year.

In addition, China helped train more than 300 anti-narcotics officials for Myanmar and Laos from 2002 to 2006.

The three-day conference will focus on new measures to deal with drugs such as crystal methamphetamine, also known as "ice", and ecstasy alongside with traditional drugs like heroin.

Source:Xinhua