The ASEAN member countries and China have agreed to strengthen pragmatic law enforcement cooperation, to better cope with security challenges and set up a law enforcement college to train police.

The commitment was made at the first forum of presidents of police academies from China and the ASEAN nations, in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, on March 29 – 30.

Accordingly, the Yunnan Police College in Kunming will be in charge of establishing a China – ASEAN law enforcement academy.

The ASEAN flag (first, right) and the flags of the bloc's member nations (Photo: AP)

The academy is expected to provide higher quality and more customised training programmes for police from ASEAN and neighboring countries, an official of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said.

An education executive committee will also be set up to promote China-ASEAN law enforcement training and cooperation.

At the forum, China pledged to provide free short and mid-term law enforcement training and degree-level education for 2,000 officers from law enforcement agencies of the ASEAN members from 2016 to 2020.

The moves will help China and ASEAN effectively tackle growing threats such as terrorism, cybercrimes, drug smuggling and human trafficking, according to the participants of the forum.

The forum was held after China and ASEAN issued a joint declaration on law enforcement cooperation at a ministerial meeting on regional security and common development last year.

(Source: VNA)