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February 18, 2025 | 01:18 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Chinese government announced that it is working with Thailand and Myanmar to tackle online fraud and illegal online gambling.
"The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to working with competent authorities to direct our embassies and consulates overseas to properly handle relevant cases involving consular protection and help, and protect the safety of overseas Chinese,” said Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun in a press conference in Beijing on Monday, February 17, 2025, as quoted by Antara.
High-ranking officials from Myanmar, China, and Thailand visited the border town Myawaddy on Monday for talks about combating illegal online fraud and gambling.
Between January 30 and February 16, authorities have identified and detained a total of 1,030 foreign nationals. Myanmar has repatriated some of those detained and is working to repatriate the others in accordance with the legal procedures of their home countries.
Last Friday, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Ma Jia and the visiting Assistant Minister of Public Security Liu Zhongyi met with Myanmar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, U Than Swe, and Minister of Home Affairs, Tun Tun Naung.
"The recent serious crimes involving online gambling and scam happened along the Thailand-Myanmar border threaten the life and property of citizens of China, Thailand and other relevant countries, and disrupt normal exchanges and cooperation between regional countries," said Guo Jiakun.
Joining the fight against online gambling and fraud, Guo Jiakun revealed, demonstrates China's commitment to a people-centered development philosophy. "It is a must choice for safeguarding the common interests of regional countries, and meets the shared aspiration of the people of all countries," Guo Jiakun stated.
Guo Jiakun disclosed that China is actively conducting bilateral and multilateral cooperation with countries including Thailand and Myanmar.
"We have adopted various means to address both symptoms and the root cause and worked together to prevent lawbreakers from crossing borders, so as to jointly eradicate the problems of online gambling and scam, safeguard the life and property of the people, and uphold the order of exchanges and cooperation between regional countries," Guo Jiakun added.
Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, which border Thailand, is known as the haven for criminal syndicates notorious for coercing hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians and nationals and other countries to engage in practices such as online fraud, including fake dating, fake investment promotions, illegal gambling schemes, and human trafficking.
Such fraud has raked in tens of billions of dollars from victims worldwide, while those recruited to work at those locations are often entrapped with promises of fake employments, while actually working in what could be described as visual slavery.
Since 2023, at least thousands of residents from 20 countries have been rescued from such locations, including residents of China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Kenya, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, Taiwan, Uganda, Laos, Brazil, Burundi, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Ghana, and India.
Reports in Thai media stated that one of the several armed factions inside the region where the workers were held captive, the Karen National Liberation Army, released the workers and brought them to the border. Meanwhile, the Myanmar military junta has little control over the border area.
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