China resolute in fight against illegal border crossing: FM

China remains resolute in cracking down on illegal border crossing, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday, in response to reports of a ring of Turkish people smugglers who abetted Uyghurs to sneak out of China.

"We have taken note of relevant reports. Cracking down on illegal immigration is an aspiration shared by the international community, and also the persistent stance taken by the Chinese government," foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Wei told reporters at a Wednesday briefing.

Hong added that China is willing to cooperate closely with the international community on the issue of illegal migration.

Ten Turkish suspects were arrested in November 2014 for organizing illegal border crossings for nine Uyghurs from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, who were also arrested.

The Uyghur suspects, including a wanted terrorist, are under criminal detention for organizing, leading and participating in terrorist organizations.

The suspects were all captured when the nine Uyghurs tried to sneak out of China from Shanghai Pudong International Airport with altered Turkish passports.

There were also terrorism-related videos found on their phones.

Some suspected Uyghur terrorists have reportedly left China illegally to join jihadists in countries like Syria and Iraq via Turkey, some of whom have the intent of later committing terrorist acts back in China, authorities told the Global Times.

The authorities have vowed to make more efforts to investigate and crackdown on similar crimes to prevent any "collusion threatening our national security."