China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Southeast Asian countries to take robust measures to combat online gambling and telecom fraud, encouraging the “relevant” governments to accept their responsibilities.
According to Wang, a succession of online gambling and telecom fraud occurrences along the Thai-Myanmar border have threatened and hurt citizens of China and other nations.
During a rare meeting with the region’s envoys, he stated that China was eager to strengthen law enforcement and security cooperation with Asean countries in order to offer a safe environment for people of all nationalities to travel.
China’s offer to increase security cooperation reflects Beijing’s growing worry about the threat posed by telecom fraud and people trafficking in Southeast Asia. It also shows a renewed urgency from Beijing to improve coordination with the 10-nation Asean grouping, which includes Myanmar and Thailand, in combating cross-border crime.
Overseas fraud syndicates have duped Chinese citizens with promises of high-paying jobs, food, accommodation and airfares, and trapped them in telecom fraud dens in towns such as Myawaddy, on Myanmar’s border with Thailand, China’s public security ministry was reported as saying.
Thai policymakers have agreed to speed up the resolution of the problems impacting Thailand’s image as a safe tourism destination.
Thailand last year helped facilitate the transfer of about 900 Chinese nationals who had been trapped in scam centres in Myawaddy, while in 2023, Myanmar handed over 31,000 telecom fraud suspects to China.
