Chinese Premier Li Qiang told the National People’s Congress on Wednesday that the Chinese government will provide child care subsidies and expand free preschool day care available to young couples to boost the country’s declining population. Li’s pledges were welcomed by Chinese netizens.

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WASHINGTON — A recent crackdown on online scam operations, launched earlier this year, has left more than 7,000 people from various countries stranded in a Myanmar border town awaiting repatriation.

The operation, coordinated by Thailand, Myanmar and China, began after Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s visit to Beijing in February, where she assured Chinese leader Xi Jinping that Thailand would take action against scam syndicates.

While China’s pressure has accelerated the repatriation of Chinese nationals, critics argue that its primary focus is protecting its own citizens rather than dismantling the entire criminal network.

In an exclusive interview with VOA, lawmaker Rangsiman Rome, who chairs the Thai House Committee on National Security and is deputy leader of the opposition People’s Party, casts doubt on the effectiveness of the crackdown, calling it more symbolic than structural.

Rome said that without deeper reforms, intelligence-sharing, and global cooperation, these syndicates will continue adapting and operating in different locations, making the current efforts a short-term fix rather than a lasting solution.

While thousands have been rescued during the ongoing crackdown, the United Nations has previously estimated that more than 200,000 have been forced to work in scam centers.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: In your opinion, what should Thailand do differently to make the crackdown more effective and ensure these operations are truly dismantled?

Rangsiman Rome: I think this crackdown is just for show. It’s not really solving the problem. We have found evidence that construction is still ongoing in some areas, particularly in Shwe Kokko, where scam compounds continue to expand. It seems like the authorities are only making small, visible efforts to create the impression that they are addressing the issue. In reality, the scale of these crackdowns is very limited, and no significant progress has been made in truly dismantling these networks

Once public attention fades, I believe these scam operations will resume as before, because the root causes have not been addressed. Without continued pressure, the same criminal networks will simply rebuild and operate as they did before.

VOA: How much pressure is China putting on Thailand, and is that pressure actually leading to real changes in the crackdown on scam networks?

Rangsiman Rome: I believe China plays a crucial role in this situation. With the Chinese government’s initiative, Thailand has aligned with China on the shared goal of stopping border crimes. While I understand that China is acting to protect its own interests, Thailand must also prioritize its own national security and stability.

The cooperation between Thailand and China has led to progress, particularly in repatriating Chinese nationals from Myawaddy back to China. However, this is not enough. China has largely achieved its goal by bringing its citizens home, but Thailand’s objective goes beyond that — we need to ensure that these scam operations do not return.

To truly dismantle these networks, we must identify and target the key figures behind them. These may include Chinese nationals, Thai mafia, corrupt officials or other powerful individuals involved in sustaining these operations. Thailand must continue its crackdown and expand its focus beyond Myawaddy. We should also pay attention to Cambodia, where large-scale scam operations continue to thrive. Stopping these networks requires ongoing efforts and regional cooperation to prevent them from simply relocating and rebuilding elsewhere.

VOA: How can Thailand and the international community work together to prevent these networks from simply shifting locations and continuing their operations elsewhere?

Rangsiman Rome: The scam crisis is not just Thailand’s problem — it is an international issue that affects people worldwide. Many victims not only lose large sums of money, but also face severe human rights abuses, including forced labor and even organ trafficking. This is a serious criminal enterprise that requires global action.

I see Thailand as a key partner in a global initiative to dismantle scam networks. Thailand has the potential to take the lead in the region to combat these crimes, but we cannot do this alone.

We need support from multiple countries, not just China. We must work closely with Japan, the U.K., the EU and others to share intelligence and track the financial assets of these organized crime syndicates. Many victims are waiting to recover their lost money, and we must locate the hidden assets of Chinese mafia groups and other criminals. It is essential to ensure that no country provides a safe haven for these syndicates — they must be held accountable for their human rights violations.

There is still much work to be done, and Thailand cannot fight this alone. If we work together with international partners, Thailand can take the lead in the region, but we need global cooperation to bring real change.

VOA: Right now, many people are facing difficulties with the repatriation process which involves multiple countries. As a result, some are stuck in Myawaddy or experiencing delays in immigration procedures. How do you think this problem can be resolved to ensure a smoother and faster repatriation process for those affected?

Rangsiman Rome: First and foremost, many countries need to work together to rescue more victims. Based on what I’ve heard, over 7,000 people are currently trapped in Myawaddy, and they need urgent assistance. They should not be left there any longer.

In Thailand, we have a system called NIM, which helps us separate victims from those actively involved in scam operations. It is important to conduct thorough interviews and gather detailed information to identify key figures — the individuals running and operating these scam compounds. By doing this, we can target the leaders behind these crimes and, hopefully, bring them to justice in the future. Our goal is to ensure that these criminal operations do not return.

However, Thailand cannot handle this problem alone. It is extremely difficult for us to combat these syndicates without international support. We need cooperation from many countries, including nations in Africa where some victims originate. By working together, we can respond more quickly, gather information more effectively, and provide translators who can communicate with victims in their native languages. This level of coordination is essential to fully dismantle these networks and ensure that they do not return in the future.
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Bangkok — Thailand is working with authorities in the capital cities or embassies of some countries that have citizens stuck on the Thai-Myanmar border following their rescue from scam compounds to hasten their repatriation, an official said on Thursday.

About 7,000 people pulled out of scam centers in Myanmar’s Myawaddy are currently housed in camps administered by armed groups operating along the frontier, following a multi-national crackdown to dismantle the illegal compounds.

The Myawaddy scam centers are part of a network of such compounds across Southeast Asia, where criminal gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people to help generate illicit revenues running into billions of dollars a year, according to the United Nations.

Workers in such centers, many of whom say they have been coerced, engage in online scams to defraud victims worldwide. 

Countries such as China and Indonesia have already repatriated some of their citizens from Myawaddy with the assistance of Thai authorities, but thousands still remain in the area, including those from African nations that do not have an embassy in Thailand. 

On Thursday, the first of 19 China-bound repatriation flights planned this week for nearly 1,500 Chinese nationals rescued from Myawaddy took off from the Thai border town of Mae Sot.  

For those countries without a local mission, Thailand’s foreign ministry has been in contact with an accredited embassy or the capital directly, said ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura. 

“It is up to the receiving government whether they will send officials from their embassies to fly into Thailand or send people from their respective capitals,” he told reporters at a briefing in Bangkok. 

Thailand requires any country repatriating its citizens from Myawaddy to send officials to the Thai-Myanmar border to facilitate the process, which includes disease screening and immigration checks. 

Hundreds of foreign nationals extricated from the scam compounds have little food, scant healthcare and filthy toilets in a remote militia camp they have been taken to. 

Some detainees from African nations currently housed in that camp told Reuters last week that they also do not have the means to buy tickets to return home. 
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UNITED NATIONS — Women’s rights regressed last year in a quarter of countries around the world, according to a report published by UN Women on Thursday, due to factors ranging from climate change to democratic backsliding.

“The weakening of democratic institutions has gone hand in hand with backlash on gender equality,” the report said, adding that “anti-rights actors are actively undermining long-standing consensus on key women’s rights issues.”

“Almost one-quarter of countries reported that backlash on gender equality is hampering implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action,” the report continued, referring to the document from the 1995 World Conference on Women.

In the 30 years since the conference, the U.N. said that progress has been mixed.

In parliaments around the world, female representation has more than doubled since 1995, but men still comprise about three-quarters of parliamentarians.

The number of women with social protection benefits increased by a third between 2010 and 2023, though 2 billion women and girls still live in places without such protections.

Gender employment gaps “have stagnated for decades.” Sixty-three percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 have paid employment, compared to 92% of men in the same demographic.

The report cites the COVID-19 pandemic, global conflicts, climate change and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), as all new potential threats to gender equality.

Data presented by the UN Women report found that conflict-related sexual violence has spiked 50% in the past 10 years, with 95% of victims being children or young women.

In 2023, 612 million women lived within 50 kilometers of armed conflict, a 54% increase since 2010.

And in 12 countries in Europe and Central Asia, at least 53% of women have experienced one or more forms of gender-based violence online.

“Globally, violence against women and girls persists at alarming rates. Across their lifetime, around one in three women are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence by a non-partner,” the report said.

The report sets out a multi-part roadmap to address gender inequality, such as fostering equitable access to new technologies like AI, measures toward climate justice, investments to combat poverty, increasing participation in public affairs and fighting against gendered violence.
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The U.S. Justice Department announced indictments Wednesday against 12 Chinese nationals accused in a global hacking campaign targeting U.S.-based dissidents, news organizations, government agencies and a large religious organization. 

According to court documents, China’s Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security used a network of private companies and hackers-for-hire to steal information and help locate dissidents and critics throughout the world.  

“Today’s announcements reveal that the Chinese Ministry of Public Security has been paying hackers-for-hire to inflict digital harm on Americans who criticize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division in a statement. 

The suspects include two officers in China’s Ministry of Public Security, eight employees of a company known as i-Soon, and two members of a group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 27 (APT27). 

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the allegations were a “smear” and said, “We hope that relevant parties will adopt a professional and responsible attitude and base their characterization of cyber incidents on sufficient evidence rather than groundless speculation and accusations.” 

All of those indicted are at large, and the Justice Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information about the MPS officers and i-Soon, the Chinese company that employed most of the hackers.  

The company is accused of selling stolen information “to China’s intelligence and security services to suppress free speech and democratic processes worldwide, and target groups deemed a threat to the Chinese government,” according to a news release from the FBI. 

i-Soon also conducted computer intrusions on its own initiative, charging “the MSS and MPS equivalent to between approximately $10,000 and $75,000 for each email inbox it successfully hacked,” the indictment said.  

The company also provided training in hacking skills to the government agencies. 

Among the group’s targets were a large religious organization critical of the Chinese government that previously sent missionaries to China, and a group that promoted human rights and religious freedom in China. 

The New York Assembly and multiple news organizations in the United States were targeted, including those that have opposed the Communist Party of China or delivered uncensored news to China. 

Foreign targets included a religious leader, a Hong Kong newspaper and the foreign ministries of Taiwan, India, South Korea, and Indonesia, according to the Justice Department release. 

Separate indictments were issued against the two men connected to APT27, Zhou Shuai and Yin Kecheng, “for their involvement in the multi-year, for-profit computer intrusion campaigns dating back, in the case of Yin, to 2013,” the Justice Department release stated. 

The State Department announced a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest of Zhou and Yin. They are accused of hacking numerous “U.S.-based technology companies, think tanks, law firms, defense contractors, local governments, health care systems, and universities, leaving behind them a wake of millions of dollars in damages,” the release stated. 

Yin is accused in a U.S. Treasury Department hack between September and December 2024. 

The two face several charges that include computer network conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.  

“As evidenced by today’s and previous announcements, China offers safe harbor for private sector companies that conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States and its partners,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. 

The indictments were the result of a joint investigation by the Justice Department, FBI, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Departments of State and the Treasury. 

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. 
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