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Tightening the squeeze on telecom fraudsters

Tightening the squeeze on telecom fraudsters

Provided by Nation.

Thai media outlets reported on Tuesday that the Thai prime minister will visit China early next month to strengthen bilateral relations and rebuild Chinese tourists' trust in Thailand's safety as a tourist destination after a series of telecom scams were exposed.

The criminal activities that include human trafficking, drug trafficking kidnapping and extortion have the characteristics of "mafia + high technology + industrialisation + cross-border". Thus, the countries where the gangs operate must work with the Chinese mainland authorities in good faith to rid the region of the scourge.

China is willing to strengthen bilateral and multilateral law enforcement cooperation with Southeast Asian countries to create a safe environment for people of all nations to travel with peace of mind, and maintain good order of exchanges and cooperation with neighbouring countries, including normal tourism and cultural activities.To that end, relevant countries should make every effort to work with China to rescue the people held by these gangs, severely punish those involved in criminal activities by the law, strengthen border control and supervision of key areas, establish a long-term law enforcement mechanism to counter such crimes and eradicate the breeding ground for cross-border crime.

A meeting involving relevant officials from China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam was also convened in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, on Tuesday, with the countries agreeing to work together to arrest the leaders of criminal syndicates, dismantle telecom fraud centres, and "make every effort" to coordinate the rescue of those trapped. Both the Thai and Myanmar ambassadors to China met with senior Foreign Ministry officials in separate meetings in Beijing on Wednesday vowing their shared resolve to address the issue.All the signs indicate that the region is brewing another storm targeting the telecom fraud network after Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged zero tolerance to the issue last week.

It is to be hoped that Southeast Asian countries can realize the harm done by the gangs even if most of the victims are not their nationals. They are not doing a favour to China by taking part in these joint actions but safeguarding their interests by doing so. There needs to be a long-term work mechanism to prevent the gangs from popping up again after the law-enforcement storm ends. Since 2023, Myanmar has deported 53,388 Chinese nationals involved in online fraud, the country's embassy in Beijing said on Tuesday.

No country will benefit from the region becoming an international telecom fraud centre. The jobs and tax revenue these fraudsters create for localities all have expensive price tags on them that the local communities will have to pay in different forms in the future.

Li Yang 

China Daily

Asia News Network

NATION

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AFP-JIJI PRESS NEWS JOURNAL


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