Chinese on tourist visas suspected of manipulating dragon fruit market in Vietnamese province
Chinese on tourist visas suspected of manipulating dragon fruit market in Vietnamese province
The dragon fruit market in a district in the southern Vietnamese province of Long An is being manipulated by a group of Chinese traders, who have entered the country on tourist visas, local authorities said.
The Chinese nationals have applied for temporary residence with authorities in Chau Thanh District, but they did not engage in any tourism activities, the district’s chairman Nguyen Van Thinh told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday.
Instead, they visited the local dragon fruit plantations to buy fruits and flowers, activities allegedly intended to manipulate the market, according to the chairman.
The administration of Chau Thanh has thus issued a document calling on relevant agencies to collaborate with police and keep a close watch on the activities of the Chinese nationals, Thinh said.
Locals are recommended to report to police immediately if they see any Chinese nationals with tourist visas come to dragon fruit trading places to buy the fruits as it is against the law, according to the document.
Thinh said the move was taken after the number of Chinese nationals arriving in Chau Thanh District on tourist visas last year rose to 76 from 36 in 2014.
The Long An immigration department has deported eight Chinese people from Chau Thanh District as it was a clear case of “foreigners doing business in Vietnam without a permit granted by local authorities,” Thinh said.
The chairman, however, added that the deported Chinese had yet to conduct any successful transactions with local farmers.
“They had only worked with dragon fruit brokers in the district,” he added.
