Xi Jinping praises Thailand’s crackdown on Myanmar scam hubs

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn meets Xi in Beijing after the kingdom cut power and internet to scam hubs around its border

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday praised Thailand’s efforts to crack down on scam factories along its border as he met Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra during her first official visit to the kingdom’s largest trading partner and top source of tourists.

Ahead of her trip, Thailand pulled the plug on electricity and internet to five border areas of Myanmar known to house numerous scam centres.

Her government also ordered an end to fuel supplies and other logistics such as SIM cards, satellite dishes and cables used by the cyber scammers to hit their targets across the world.

Chinese nationals are widely believed to operate these scam factories, which primarily target mainland Chinese and the diaspora.

“China appreciates Thailand’s effective measures to combat online gambling and fraud,” Xi said according to state news agency Xinhua.

“The two sides should continue to strengthen law enforcement security and judicial cooperation, safeguard the safety of people’s lives and property, and maintain the order of exchanges and cooperation among regional countries,” he added.

Thailand is aiming to exceed its pre-pandemic record of about 40 million visitors set in 2019, but it remains uncertain whether it can draw the roughly 11 million Chinese tourists who visited that year.

Fears over visitor safety are part of the issue and resurfaced in recent weeks after the plight of Chinese actor Wang Xing made headlines.

Wang said he was tricked into accepting an acting job in Thailand, only to be taken across the border to scam operations in Myanmar’s Myawaddy area, near the Moei River that separates the two countries.

His rescue last month, along with a series of similar cases involving Chinese nationals trapped by fraud syndicates, has renewed scrutiny on the large number of Chinese citizens held inside the Mekong region’s scam factories.

Many are believed to be there against their will, prompting a senior Chinese security delegation led by Liu Zhongyi, China’s vice-minister of public security, to visit the border zone in late January to set up a centre to coordinate the return of Chinese nationals.

“The safety of people and tourists visiting Thailand is the government’s highest priority,” Paetongtarn said, adding that both nations would cooperate on a warning system to fight crime.

“Thailand is ready to work with China to suppress criminal activity that passes through Thailand.”

Paetongtarn’s three-day visit to China, which began on Wednesday, is her first as prime minister and coincides with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Her visit comes as her government seeks to revive Thailand’s debt-laden economy, while US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs threaten to disrupt global trade – making the

kingdom’s relationship with its largest trade partner all the more critical.

In light of global instability, Xi said Beijing and Bangkok should reinforce mutual trust and respond to uncertainty with the stability of their relationship. He also noted that China was willing to align development strategies with Thailand and advance major infrastructure projects, according to Xinhua.

On Tuesday, Thailand approved a US$10 billion railway project that will eventually link Bangkok to the Laos–China high-speed rail network.

Xi also expressed hopes of expanding cooperation in the electric vehicle sector, with Thailand emerging as a key market for Chinese carmakers.