As Donald Trump settles back into the White House for a second term and the rest of the world readies itself for a reprisal of US threats and transactionalism, Southeast Asia has been put on notice where it stands with Washington. A day after he was sworn in on January 21, US Secretary of State…
Hong Kong authorities have been urged to provide a clear answer on their plan to rescue residents forced to work at scam farms in Southeast Asia, after the families of some victims went through the start of Lunar New Year without news about their loved ones, a situation they said was worryingly “abnormal”. Former district…
Hong Kong authorities have been urged to provide a clear answer on their plan to rescue residents forced to work at scam farms in Southeast Asia, after the families of some victims went through the start of Lunar New Year without news about their loved ones, a situation they said was worryingly “abnormal”. Former district…
China and Thailand have pledged to jointly crack down on dozens of cyber scam gangs in Myanmar and related human trafficking, including setting up at least one coordination centre, according to Thai media reports. This comes as a delegation from China’s Ministry of Public Security, led by assistant minister Liu Zhongyi, continues its visit to…
A Hongkonger who was lured to Southeast Asia and held captive at a “scam farm” in Myanmar since October returned to the city on Monday, as the government revealed that a security official would remain in Bangkok to continue efforts to rescue 10 other residents stranded in similar fraud centres in the region. The 29-year-old…
The recent kidnapping of a Chinese actor on the Thailand-Myanmar border has turned the spotlight on the international criminal gangs responsible for luring Chinese citizens abroad and forcing them to take part in telecoms scams. Wang Xing was duped into flying to Thailand by a bogus casting agent on the pretext of taking part in…
The latest China-brokered truce in Myanmar’s civil war is likely to hold for now but lasting peace may still be a pipe dream, according to observers. Myanmar’s military government and a major northeastern ethnic rebel group agreed to a ceasefire this month in the Chinese border city of Kunming – the second such pact to…
WASHINGTON — Reports of Chinese citizens trafficked into scam centers along the Thai-Myanmar border are prompting renewed questions about Beijing’s reliance on Myanmar’s military regime to tackle transnational crime. Analysts warn China’s strategy in Myanmar leaves citizens vulnerable while potentially bolstering criminal networks in the conflict-ridden Southeast Asia country. Recent high-profile abduction cases have sparked…
A Hongkonger who has been stuck in Thailand after being released from a scam farm in Myanmar will fly home on Monday, before Lunar New Year. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said on Saturday that members of his bureau’s task force had met the 29-year-old man the night before. “When my colleague called me…
The medical student was showering near his dormitory in the jungles of eastern Myanmar when he heard military jets flying overhead. Wearing only undershorts, he raced to a bomb shelter. But there, he faced another danger: a black snake. Grabbing a stick, he killed it before it could bite him. “It was terrifying,” said Khuu…