China and its neighbouring countries of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand on September 21 began a new round of joint patrols on the Mekong River to secure transportation and crack down cross-border crimes, China’s state news agency Xinhua quoted Chinese police authorities as saying.

During the six-day patrol, the sixth round of their kind since last December, the patrol fleet of China and Laos will sail along a Laos-managed section of the Mekong River to check ships, a police officer in charge of China's Yunnan Provincial Border Control Corps was quoted as saying.

Police officers will also check key sections on the bank of the river in Laos.

The joint patrols, considered a safeguard against crimes on the river, have seen more ships resume operation after an incident that two Chinese ships were seriously attacked in October last year, according to the agency.-VNA