Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling on Myanmar to “continue to combat criminal activities including online gambling,” as the top officials from the two nations met in Beijing on Tuesday.
Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing reassured that the nation is “willing to work closely with China to resolutely crack down on online gambling and telecom fraud and safeguard border security and stability,” according to state-run media China Daily.
The meeting comes nearly six months after China executed 11 people linked to scam centers in Myanmar who had been found guilty of intentional homicide, fraud and running casinos. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson at the time said that China was working together with Southeast Asian nations “to root out the ‘scourges’ of online gambling and telecom fraud.”
However, the executions came nearly a year after China’s Foreign Minister said that scam parks near the nation’s border with Myanmar had been completely eliminated, proving how difficult the eradication of the illegal operations has been.
China’s concern with the scam operations stems not only from their targeting of Chinese citizens, or that many involved have been Chinese-backed, but also is due to Chinese victims of the compounds. Victims of various nationalities, including Chinese, have been lured into the compounds under false pretenses of gainful employment, prompting uproar from their respective governments.
In his statements on Tuesday, Myanmar’s President assured China that the nation “attaches great importance to the safety of Chinese enterprises and personnel in Myanmar and will make every effort to ensure their security,” according to the state publication.
The scam crackdowns in Myanmar, Cambodia and throughout the region have caused the migration of the illegal operations to new stomping grounds, appearing in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Laos – now with more mobile set-ups and using more sophisticated avoidance tactics.
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