Recently, a summary and commendation conference on struggling against illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities in 2009 was held by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) in Zhuhai city of Guangdong province. The conference summarized progress by the SAFE and the MPS in cracking down on illegal and criminal activities in foreign exchange transactions, such as underground money shops, online foreign exchange speculation, and so forth, commended advanced organizations and individuals that performed outstandingly in struggling against such illegal and criminal activities, and devised a plan for relevant work regarding cracking down on illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities in 2010. Deng Xianhong, deputy administrator of the SAFE and Han Hao, deputy director-general of the Economic Crimes Investigation Department of the MPS, attended the conference and delivered speeches.
In recent years, the foreign exchange administration departments and public security organs in various regions have attached priority to efforts to crack down on underground money shops, online foreign exchange speculation, and other illegal and criminal activities involving foreign exchange transactions, and have launched a battery of special collaborative campaigns to combat the above activities by making full use of their respective roles and strengths. A series of significant cases were investigated, which considerably frightened criminals and preserved normal order in the states administration of financial and foreign exchange affairs. Statistics show that in 2009 the foreign exchange administration departments and public security organs in various regions successfully uncovered 11 cases of underground money shops, 8 cases of online foreign exchange speculation, 11 cases of illegal foreign exchange transactions, and ferreted out more than 51 nests of illegal foreign exchange transactions, involving a total amount of more than RMB30 billion.
The conference commended 26 advanced organizations and 63 individuals that had exhibited outstanding performance in cracking down on illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities in 2009, such as underground money shops and online foreign exchange speculation, and called on other foreign exchange administration departments and public security organs in various regions to learn from them. Meanwhile, the conference noted that the commended organizations and individuals should guard against arrogance and in the future should try even harder to achieve new progress in struggling against underground money shops, online foreign exchange speculation, and other illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities.
It was pointed out at the conference that at present there are considerable uncertainties regarding the recovery of the global economy and the Chinese economy still faces many difficulties and challenges for sound development. These challenges will expose China to a more complicated situation in terms of cross-border fund flows and will place greater pressures and require even greater responsibility to strengthen  supervision of cross-border fund flows. It is particularly important that in 2010, as the growth of foreign trade exports is beginning to be restored and the pace of foreign direct investment is likely to accelerate, there will be an increasing likelihood that overseas short-term arbitrage funds will flow into China through various channels. All these factors will impose greater pressures on net inflows of foreign exchange.
The conference made plans to continue the struggle against illegal and criminal activities in foreign exchange transactions in 2010. The foreign exchange administration departments and public security organs in various regions will be required to make the most of their respective roles and advantages and to follow tips about significant illegal and criminal cases regarding foreign exchange transactions in a timely manner. The SAFE and the MPS will provide guidance and supervision over key cases of illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities. The foreign exchange administration departments and public security organs in various regions will be required to collaborate with the relevant departments to simultaneously crack down on and prevent illegal activities, to cleanse the market environment, to launch focused rectification campaigns in areas and places within their respective jurisdictions with frequent occurrences of illegal and criminal foreign exchange transaction activities, and to limit the space for the propagation of underground money shops and other illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities. These administration departments and organs will be required to actively disseminate information about the dangers of illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities, such as underground money shops, via various media. and to appeal for efforts by the masses to carry out foreign exchange transactions via legal channels.
It was emphasized at the conference that in 2010 the foreign exchange administration departments and public security organs in various regions should further raise awareness and enhance a sense of responsibility and urgency for cracking down on illegal and criminal foreign exchange activities, such as underground money shops, online foreign exchange speculation, and so forth, by making full use of the cooperative strengths of the various departments in an effort to maintain normal financial order and social stability of the state. Intensified efforts should be made to crack down on such illegal and criminal activities with the aim of making new contributions to the preservation of the economic and financial security of the state as well as building a harmonious society.