Just this week, authorities brought back a suspected leader of a criminal gang from Myanmar, according to a Chinese police statement. China has also slapped bounties worth 500,000 yuan (RM325,344) each on the heads of 10 crime bosses. — AFP
A video began circulating on Myanmar social media circles last month. It depicted a man, who called himself Bi Huijun, issuing a stark warning to his family from what looked like a padded cell.
We “earn money from telescams”, Bi said, appearing to read from a script. “The Chinese government will absolutely make us pay with blood,” he added, asking his relatives in Myanmar to immediately release victims hailing from across the border.
Bi’s video, which Bloomberg couldn’t independently verify, is just one example of the ruling Communist Party’s crackdown on criminal gangs that have scammed, kidnapped, and tortured its citizens. Thousands of suspects have been deported to China in recent months, laying bare the enormity of a problem the United Nations said has ensnared some 120,000 people in Myanmar alone.
Just this week, authorities brought back a suspected leader of a criminal gang from Myanmar, according to a Chinese police statement. China has also slapped bounties worth 500,000 yuan (RM325,344) each on the heads of 10 crime bosses.
Such a campaign was previously unlikely: Myanmar’s military has long ignored Beijing’s calls to tackle an industry siphoning billions. But as rebel groups, with ties to China, in October started an operation to eject the junta from the border region, Beijing swung into action.
China’s growing concern about scams operating abroad reflects a fragile economic situation at home. As the world’s second-largest economy slows, property prices are slumping and one in five young people are out of work, leaving them vulnerable to fraudsters promising a better life abroad.
“The crackdown serves as a symbolic mechanism to signal to the public that the authorities are listening and responding to public grievances,” said Maria Repnikova, an assistant professor in global communication at Georgia State University, and expert on China’s political communication.
Major General Zaw Min Tun, lead spokesman for the ruling State Administration Council, said in a televised broadcast that the junta had been hindered in its efforts to tackle cyber gangs, because they were based in areas held by rebel groups.
“As soon as the army enters, there will be a battle and the peace will be destroyed,’ he added.
President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Myanmar in 2020 was the first by a Chinese leader in nearly two decades. That marked a critical juncture in the two countries’ economic ties, as the Chinese leader sought to develop several key projects that would integrate Myanmar into Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative.
With the country now gripped by a civil war, the so-called China-Myanmar Economic Corridor projects are going nowhere and cyber crime syndicates have flourished. Often run by Chinese fugitives who fled their home nation in 2020 following a domestic crackdown, they took cover in areas of Myanmar known for weak governance.
There are no figures on the extent of the problem in China. But the luring, kidnapping and trafficking of its citizens has become such a problem it inspired a major motion picture that drew 3.5bil yuan (RM2.27bil) at the box office this summer.
No More Bets depicts a computer programmer tempted overseas by the promise of high-paying work only to be forced to run Internet scams under the threat of torture. The movie touched a raw nerve – and drew criticism from the authorities in Cambodia and Myanmar.
In August, the story of an indebted graduate trafficked over the border, after being promised a lucrative translation job in Singapore, dominated Chinese social media. He was made to work 18 hours a day convincing people to invest in digital currency programs.
“My job hunt in China wasn’t very smooth due to Covid,” he told The Beijing News, after being rescued. “So, I had to look for opportunities abroad.”
The state-run People’s Daily said in a recent commentary that China’s police were conducting special operations overseas “in response to people’s strong reaction to cyber scams”, as the government seeks to reassure its population.
Warlord haven
The borderlands of Myanmar’s northern Shan state have long been a haven for warlords where nefarious dealings from an illegal wildlife trade, to gambling and narcotics production go on unabated.
China’s interests there have historically been to prevent the violence from spilling over. Beijing has defied international pressure to denounce the junta, while maintaining close ties with rebel groups that control swathes of territory along the border.
Now, that balancing act is paying off. When the so-called Three Brotherhood Alliance, made up of Myanmar ethnic groups, launched the October offensive one of its stated goals was to eradicate cyber crime rings – seemingly, an attempt to curry favour with China.
Myanmar has transferred 31,000 suspects involved in scams to China, as of November, according to a Chinese government statement.
“China concluded they actually don’t want this profane border guard force allied with the military regime on its border anymore,” said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser with the International Crisis Group. “They’ve blown it.”
Beijing will allow the rebel groups to take over the zone, then pressure both sides to accept the status quo, Horsey predicted. Myanmar’s ruling junta said this month that China is helping broker discussions with a rebel alliance.
For President Xi, demonstrating that his government will shutdown scams that impoverish ordinary people is crucial. The Communist Party’s contract with citizens for decades has been reduced political freedoms in exchange for greater prosperity.
“The pressure on China is tremendous because these operations have gone far beyond just cyber scams,” said Yun Sun, director of the China programme of the Stimson Center. “The pressure is primarily domestic.” – Bloomberg
