On March 28, an interdisciplinary delegation of the People's Committee of Mong Cai City simultaneously conducted surprise inspections of stores specializing in serving Chinese customers in the area.

At the time of inspection in the afternoon of the same day, these stores had no customers even though in the morning they were bustling with people coming and going.

For example, local authorities inspected the Dai Duong Quoc Te store (No. 31, Hoa Binh Avenue, Zone 3, Tran Phu Ward, Mong Cai City) and discovered a series of violations.

Ocean International Store is crowded with Chinese customers in the morning. Photo: P. Cong
But in the afternoon, when the authorities checked, there was not a single person inside. Photo: P. Cong

Here is like a mini supermarket selling many types of goods, from pharmaceuticals, jewelry to groceries and candy.

At the time of inspection, the store representative could not present the work permits of the 10 Chinese people working there, lacked a certificate of fire safety eligibility, listed unclear prices, and sold many types of goods of unknown origin.

With the above violations, the interdisciplinary delegation of Mong Cai City People's Committee has agreed to stop operations at the above sales facility until all conditions are met.

Authorities check items inside the store.
At the time of the inspection by the interdisciplinary team, the airline representative was able to present the work permits of the Chinese people. Photo: P. Cong

In addition, the interdisciplinary inspection team of Mong Cai City continued to discover many violations at other facilities specializing in serving the Chinese elderly in Hai Hoa and Tran Phu wards.

These stores also had similar violations as the Dai Duong Quoc Te store and were all closed.

In recent days, at Mong Cai International Border Gate (Mong Cai City), Chinese tourists have been lining up to complete immigration procedures to enter Vietnam. According to the Mong Cai International Border Gate Management Board, nearly 10,000 Chinese tourists complete immigration procedures every day.

These are mostly elderly Chinese tourists traveling on zero-dong tours. After visiting Mong Cai City, these people are taken to shops around the border gate area to shop.