Police in two Chinese provinces, Guangxi and Guangdong, have busted a Vietnamese child trafficking ring, detaining 43 people and saving 10 babies, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security reported. The ring had trafficked these children, all of whom are boys, from Vietnam’s northern Quang Ninh province to China by boat across the Ka Long River, the ministry's Social Crime Investigation Police Department said. Chinese police have prosecuted 24 out of the 43 ring members on charges of trafficking children. Of the prosecuted people, 10 are Vietnamese.

The babies’ ages range from 10 days to seven months old. All of them are being kept at a children center in Fangcheng district in Guangxi. Vietnamese concerned agencies have identified the parents of two of these 10 babies, who were reported missing before July 15, 2011. Chinese authorities said they would hand three babies over to Vietnamese police who will in turn return the kids to their families. Many ring members, both Vietnamese and Chinese, had visited Vietnam’s southern provinces to find newborn babies to buy. They then transported them to Quang Ninh’s Mong Cai Town before crossing the Ka Long River to enter China.

The police do not yet know when the ring began operating or how many male newborn babies have been sold by them from Vietnam to China.

Anyone who has information related to the trafficked babies should contact the Social Crime Investigation Police Department at 14/38 Alley 55, Hoang Hoa Tham Street, Ban Dinh District, Hanoi (Tel: 069.44763 or 090.485.1981). Traditionally the Chinese, like many other Asian nations, have in general favored boys over girls.

This is because in China boys are more capable of hard labor, while women are supposed to stay home and do housework. Therefore the Chinese see men as more beneficial since they can be better providers when they are old, and they also earn better wages than females. Another reason may be that boys carry on the family name/bloodline when they get married, while girls do not.