Linn Maung
Cross-border trafficking of Chinese people, including minors as young as 14-15 years old, into Myanmar’s cyber-slavery sector is a new security concern to China. When a youngster is trafficked or sold to Myanmar, a demand for 300,000 Chinese yuan is made to ensure his release. There are agents in China that identify the target and secure the employment in other regions, but they are given sedatetives and transported into Myanmar. The traffickers in mainland China have syndicates that operate with the support of Chinese settled in Myanmar, and these Chinese in Myanmar run the entire human trafficking show in collaboration with the Myanmar Army’s Border Guard Force (BGF).
According to open sources, the Chinese authorities processed more than 500,000 incidents of cross-border scams and fraud in 2022, shut down 800,000 scam websites, and issued 11,000 arrest warrants related to these crimes in the first quarter of the year alone. Despite these figures, it appears that this has barely made a dent in illegal behaviour.
During his May 2023 visit to Myanmar, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang highlighted the problem with members of the military regime, who demanded a crackdown. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs later stated publicly that the crimes were “ detested by the Chinese people” and had caused “ serious harm” to China. Throughout May, Beijing expressed its displeasure with the illicit conduct. Chen Hai, China’s ambassador to Myanmar, later discussed the issue with the junta’s deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Immigration and Population.
This illicit behaviour was also one of the primary reasons a top Chinese military intelligence official visited Myanmar. While the junta was quick to interpret the visit of People’s Liberation Army Acting Intelligence Director Yang Yang as a sign of strengthening relations between the two armies, the Chinese side made no public pronouncements about it. Yang’s sole other publicly recorded international trip in 2023 was to Cambodia, where Chinese scamming operations are on the rise.
Although the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar has already attempted to build a narrative of success by reporting the detention of six criminals who were quickly returned to China on June 19 through trilateral cooperation with Thailand and Myanmar, much more action is required. Police departments around China have initiated campaigns, alleging the capture and repatriation of scores of “ criminals” from Myanmar.
The dynamics near the Myanmar-Thailand border surrounding the infamous Shwe Kokko Yatai New City Project portray a totally different story. Shwe Kokko, a criminal enclave backed by a Chinese crime boss with ties to corrupt officials in China and Cambodia, was a source of tension between China and Myanmar in the summer of 2020, when it became clear that criminals were using China’s Belt and Road Initiative to cover up illegal activity. While the Shwe Kokko crime city was effectively closed down in December 2020, the 2021 coup allowed for a major increase in cross-border crime in the zone.
Following repeated requests from Chinese officials, the junta directed that electricity be shut off to Shwe Kokko as a method of putting a halt to cross-border criminality in early June. The Myanmar army’s Border Guard Force promptly rejected the army’s announcement, threatening to halt border trade if Thailand agreed. When Thai authorities intervened on June 7, the BGF increased imports of generators and diesel fuel, allowing the criminal enclave’s scam syndicates to continue operating. Meanwhile, on June 8, the syndicates and the BGF took advantage of the army’s so-called “ crackdown” by collaborating with three EAOs to organise a public gift of more than $150,000 in response to the power outage.
China may wish to seem tough on crime, but its cooperation with Myanmar’s regime to combat it has done little more than highlight the junta’s failure to control its own Border Guard Force. Meanwhile, large criminal zones continue to spread across the country, particularly in Tachileik, a town in northern Shan State, and in area held by another Myanmar Army BGF close on China’s border. The junta is increasingly inclined to allow Chinese police activities around the country, indicating that China’s security influence is growing. However, considering the extent to which the compounds are secured by armed militias, armed criminal groups, and even sections of the military, it will require nothing short of a full-fledged military campaign to evict this criminal activity.
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