State documentary: China tried three times to persuade Myanmar crime families to end scams

Centre · 2A three-part Chinese state documentary says China tried three times to persuade powerful families in northern Myanmar to shut down scam operations before Myanmar police made a massive arrest in 2023. 1 2 Centre · 2The series, titled "The Demise of Telecom Fraud in Northern Myanmar", was produced jointly by the Ministry of Public Security and state broadcaster CCTV (China Media Group) and began airing on Monday 5 October. 2 1 Centre · 2The talks involved the four main families of Kokang, a predominantly ethnic Chinese region bordering Yunnan: the Bai, Wei, Liu and Ming families, which built extensive political, business and armed networks. 1 2

Centre · 2At one meeting, family representatives and a Chinese delegation talked for three hours in a small, makeshift structure on the Myanmar side of the border, but reached no agreement. 1 2 Centre · 1In recorded video, Bai Yingcang, a Bai family member executed in February, said Chinese officials had warned the groups several times to eliminate scam operations "unconditionally"; he quoted Ming family head Ming Xuechang as saying, "If we stop, we have nothing to eat". Ming died by suicide in November 2023 as Myanmar authorities tried to arrest him. 1 Centre · 1The documentary says 80 per cent of telecoms and online fraud crimes targeting Chinese nationals were committed overseas, with northern Myanmar accounting for a significant share, and that at the peak Chinese police received 40 requests a day from relatives seeking help to free victims. 1

Centre · 1Chinese investigators described obstacles including jurisdiction, the risk of evidence being destroyed by fighting, and initial Myanmar claims that no Chinese nationals had been killed; Na Xin of the Kunming Public Security Bureau said Chinese police retrieved several bodies a day after negotiations. 1 Centre · 2Chinese authorities said most groups in northern Myanmar have been dismantled and China's cases concluded this year, with some 15 core members executed. CNA adds that China's top court said earlier this year the Ming and Bai syndicates were "completely dismantled", with 16 people sentenced to death, and that more than 41,000 people repatriated from northern Myanmar had been sentenced for telecom fraud. 1 2 Centre · 1According to Chinese authorities, joint China-Myanmar operations led to 59,000 suspected telecoms fraud offenders being repatriated to China. The military-run Myawady news portal, citing Myanmar's president Min Aung Hlaing, said 76,486 people were arrested between 5 October 2023 and 29 September 2026 in operations against online scam and illegal gambling sites. 1

Centre · 1CNA reports the series also covers Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was lured to Thailand in January 2025 by a fake casting call, abducted, taken into Myawaddy in Myanmar and sold three times in four days. Chinese and Thai police later arrested 17 suspects, and Wang thanked the "motherland" on Weibo on 7 October. 2 Centre · 1Outside analysts quoted by the South China Morning Post caution that scams persist: Kota Watanabe of Toyo University said the northern Myanmar disruption could be attributed to Chinese pressure but that compounds have proliferated along the Myanmar-Thai border under protection of armed groups tied to Myanmar's military, and called Myanmar's crackdown "only a show". A 2023 UN report estimated at least 120,000 people in Myanmar may be forced to carry out online scams. 1