Trafficked Vietnamese women rescued in China

BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in the coastal Chinese province of Fujian have rescued 18 Vietnamese women who were allegedly kidnapped and then sold as wives, the Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

The women, aged 18 to 33, were sold to Chinese farmers for 20,000-30,000 yuan (1,870-2,849 pound) each, Xinhua cited police in Fujian's Yunxiao county as saying.

A man surnamed Zhang and his associates lured the women, who were working in the border town of Dongxing in southern Guangxi, by telling them they could offer them better jobs, it said.

China has said that it is making progress in fighting human trafficking, especially from Southeast Asian nations. It has resorted to harsh punishments to deter it, including the death penalty.

The trafficking in women is driven by poverty and a skewed sex ratio in parts of the Chinese countryside, which make it difficult for many peasants to find wives.

(Reporting by Jason Subler; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)