Beijing: Fighting smugglers and drug runners is old hat for China's border police who now have a new duty - defusing marital squabbles and other disputes.
Police officials said on Tuesday that the policy - called "love the people, consolidate the borders" - made perfect sense, as a happy populace that trusts the authorities helps make China's frontiers safer.
"It provides a protective screen for the social and economic development of the country in this important strategic period," Director of the Ministry of Public Security's frontier bureau, Chen Weiming, said at a news conference.
The police along China's 22,000-km land border and in coastal areas were involved in everything from advising Inner Mongolian herders on when to get the best prices for wool to sorting out family strife, Chen said.
That even extended to helping stop a quarrelling couple from seeking divorce, he said.
But Chen, who spent much of the hour-long event talking up his force's social work record, was tight-lipped about more sensitive topics, such as the flow of asylum seekers from North Korea.
"The situation along the North Korea border is good, though there are foreigners and illegal immigrants," he said.
"Our staff and soldiers are working on it and it will be dealt with properly."
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