Joint patrols with Chinese police outside China, to help handle the safety of Chinese tourists and interests, may be a new concept to Thai public, but China has had cooperation with Croatia, Italy and Serbia.
China’s Xinhua state news agency reported in July that China-Croatia joint police patrols would be conducted in Zagreb, Zadar, the Plitvice Lakes National Park as well as Dubrovnik, all of which are main tourist destinations in Croatia.
They conducted patrols in the four locations for a month to serve tourists, especially Chinese, in the country. The cooperation was the fourth of its kind since 2018.
Qi Qianjin, Chinese ambassador to Croatia was quoted as saying that the joint project has effectively improved the experience of Chinese tourists in Croatia and made contributions to China-Croatia tourism cooperation.
Croatian and Chinese police officers patrol downtown Zagreb as part of the Croatia and China joint police patrol in Zagreb, Croatia on July 19, 2022.
Meanwhile, a three-week cooperation took place with Italian police, as reported by Xinhua in 2019, when a group of ten police officers from China joined their Italian counterparts for a three-week joint patrol.
Chinese police officers communicate with their Italian counterparts in Rome, Italy, Nov. 5, 2019.//Xinhua
Selected from relevant departments across China, the officers had to complete training on police patrol, diplomatic etiquette, international law enforcement cooperation and the culture and customs of Italy.
The news agency quoted Wei Xiao Jun, an official with the International Cooperation Bureau, as saying that the Chinese officers would serve Chinese citizens traveling in Italy, as well as Chinese people and Chinese enterprises living or operating in Italy.
This was the fourth example of joint policing between the countries and such cooperation has also been carried out between China and other European countries, including Croatia and Serbia.
Marisa Chimprabha
