By Paskorn Jumlongrch
Clashes in Myanmar between the ethnic armed organizations and their alliances including the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) against the State Administration Council (SAC) have escalated and intensified.
The battle to lay siege to Karent State’s Myawaddy, opposite to Mae Sot District, Tak, has awaken the Thai people to the state of armed conflict in Myanmar. They have found this a more immediate issue and related to Thailand. One of the factors to propel this war is the China’s ‘grey capital’ which has crept in to operate their businesses along the Moei River in Myawaddy.
The criminal hub by the Moei River, with Thailand as its corridor, falls under the charge of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) led by Colonel Saw Chit Thu. To protect this criminal hub by the Moei River, he has since betrayed the Karen National Union (KUN) to keep hold of vested interest. And such breach of trust proves to be a game-changer.
Meanwhile, the Mekong River Basin and Southeast Asia have become a fertile ground for investments of the China’s ‘grey capital’ and this has led to the foundation of various underworld businesses making it known as the “Wicked Zone.”
The “Wicked Zone” represents the perceived image from international community toward the area through the reflections made by Prof. Yos Santasombat, a China study expert who authored among other books “Variegated Dragon”, “Under the Dragon’s Shadow” to shed light on the roles of China.
“The border area houses the Special Economic Zone which is a misnomer. Still the term has been used along with ‘soft power’ as you like it and it has lost much of its original meaning. In China, we have to accept that their Special Economic Zones can thrive thanks to the zoning technology.
“China’s growth is not a fluke. Rather, it has been made possible by advanced and prudent planning and gradual effort to solve problems, until it achieves success.” In this special interview to Transborder News by Prof. Yos, we asked him about the strategy of the China’s ‘grey capital’ in this region.
“As the region first adopted Special Economic Zones exported from China around a decade ago, it began in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville. Initially, the Chinese asked to set up factories there, not to run a call center scam. It has since developed into the Special Economic Zone of the Union Development in Koh Kong, the largest in the region, covering thousands of acres of land including the establishment of entertainment complexes. Some Cambodian reporters who tried to scrutinize the project got assassinated as well since they sounded the alarm of how such world-renown wetland and World Heritage Site being offered to China and how the land has been turned into an airport in Koh Kong with connecting flights from Hainan. In other word, the Special Economic Zone began in Cambodia and became a buzz word during the era of the Thai army junta, although the methods we adopted are far different from what China did in its own country.
“The question is: why has it become the Mekong Basin’s Wicked Zone?” Prof. Yos raised the question and gave us some clue.
“This is because the area becomes a hub of all the outlaw activities, criminals who fled from China, or casino investors who have fled from Myanmar more than 20 years ago. Now, they all converge in Kings Romans in Laos and have since expanded to Myanmar’s Northern Shan State in Laukkai, and then Shwe Kokko and a couple other places.”
The Wicked Zone is not a recent term used by Prof. Yos. Rather it appears predominantly in a variety of his research and publications as he has been documenting how the China’s ‘grey capital’ has crept into Southeast Asia territories and how they capitalized on the weak spots of rulers in the region. He has been documenting these phenomena for more than a decade.
“The unchecked authoritarian regime allows anyone to use force to lay siege to anything, or to use their money to buy people out” said Prof. Yos about the conditions that allow such China’s ‘grey capital’ to establish themselves in these criminal hubs and how Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos have become their prime target given the favorable conditions in these countries.
“In Thailand, regarding the Special Economic Zones that have been established, have we asked for consent from local people? In fact, such SEZs should be initially geared toward enabling prosperity for local people. But in our case, we gave everything to the investors. We make it so easy and convenient for investors of any nationality to reap their profits and there has been so little to enhance the knowledge and quality of life of local people.
“In a state where it is so easy to buy people out, a fertile ground for corruption, this is so favorable for the ‘grey capital’ since they can simply dump their money in to buy their way into the area including Zhao Wei’s Kings Romans.
“As Myawaddy is in trouble, they have simply moved to Kings Romans which has been massively expanded. While, tourism is on decline, no tourists, but the building construction continues to grow, where have they got their money to launder there?”
As to the current state of China, the expert explains that when President Xi Jinping first assumed power, China was mired with problems since 2008 even with the advent of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to solve the economic problems. They continued to encounter many problems in the first three or four years. Then, they were hit with Covid-19 and China mismanaged their policies adhering to strict and strenuous lockdown measures causing even more problems to its economy.
“Right now, their industrial infrastructures are in trouble as three or four massive corporations have bankrupted. Such infrastructure projects are critical for the Chinese since they like to invest in real estate. The houses they purchase are not for living, but saving or speculation. With the rise of interest rate and failure to pay monthly installments, this has led to suffering of many people.
“Now people in China are reluctant to spend money as they lose trust in the integrity of their national economy. There has been disruption in manufacturing given the people’s hesitancy to use money. The economic woes have got worse causing large-scale unemployment among newly graduated. Such chain of economic misery has proliferated for more than a decade.
“Post-Covid-19, there has been an unprecedented exodus of Chinese. This picture might not be so clear in Thailand, unlike in Europe and USA to which many Chinese have illegally migrated. The number has surged many times from the past including people from different shades, China’s ‘grey capital’, or ‘white capital’”
Prof. Yos said that looking back to Thailand, we have to accept that we are still a lawless society without justice. Corruption is so rampant thanks to the incoming new and old Chinese who like to come here. He believes the immigration of the Chinese here will further increase since it is easy for them to make a living here.
“We simply copied their models, not different from the time when we copied Western capitalism. The problem was we only copied half of the models and did not adopt free market competition. As a result, our capitalism has become monopolized. Similarly, the China’s Special Economic Zone that we have adopted, we have not made it useful to enhance the quality of our human resources. We have not adopted from them technological advancement. We simply copycatted some artificial thing and this has led to a slew of problems.
“The term “Special Economic Zone” adopted in the Mekong River Basin has been subject to distortion including even EEC here. We have blatantly become a dumping ground for toxic waste from China and our SEZs are geared toward serving such industries. This is full of corruption, and not different from the call center scam or casinos, and this may even cause more damage.
“How much money will you spend to solve the problems in Rayong? How much will you spend to undo cadmium problem? All these problems can be attributed to Chinese investors. They are all interconnected. We cannot take a reductionistic view on the problems. It is right to say we cannot blame it all on China, as the problems have been made possible by our own corrupt practice among our people who gave them licenses even though they should not have done so.”
Corruption is so rampant in the region and the China’s ‘grey capital’ realizes this and exploits it to gain access to the powerful factions that rule the countries in this region. This enables them to run such thriving criminal hubs. It is clear in Thailand’s Mae Sot District where the China’s ‘grey capital’ can simply bring over their “victims” and move them across at will to be “exploited” in their Myanmar’s criminal hub. There are government officials at multiple levels in Thailand who stand to reap the benefits from the China’s ‘grey capital’ whereas the Thai government is lax on its effort to crack down on such businesses.
“Ask a simple question, in Mae Sot, why are these so may cell phone towers lining the borders, and what has the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) done? They should probably know that these are the tools exploited by the call center scammers to deceive, not just Thai people, but people around the world. How could you allow such cell phone towers to spring up without any prior inspection? Can you be held responsible for the problem? This is yet to mention the police who can barely defend themselves” said Prof. Yos while raising concrete examples to link up the China’s ‘grey capital’ in Myawaddy and the government authorities in Thailand.
How does the Chinese government view the role of the China’s ‘grey capital’ as they have inflicted suffering in people around the world? According to Prof. Yos, “I cannot answer this question. I used to often raise this question and the Chinese government simply said they do not support such entertainment complexes with casinos. Previously, the Chinese government also forced the Laos government to shut down Boten casinos (at Laos border).
“What I know for sure is as long as the people in China are not affected, the Chinese government would not make any intervention. In the case of Laukkai, as Chinese nationals have been lured there, it prompted the Chinese government to take action. They do not care about the people in Myanmar, Laos, or Thailand, or other people in the region. But if any Chinese people are affected, they will immediately take action, which is a common reaction of the Chinese government.
“In Zhao Wei’s case, it was obvious that he was not the Chinese government’s henchman. When Zhao Wei applied for licenses to operate from the Laos government, he received help from Chinese officials. He still had some connection then. It is hard to tell if any group falls under power of the Chinese government as there might be many hidden groups. We need to explore the answers by ourselves.”
Zhao Wei’s Kings Romans empire exemplifies the whitewashing effort by the ‘grey capital’. Kings Romans brag to the world that it is a tourist hub, but may people know full well that it is an empire of human trafficking and online scamming.
“Initially, when the Special Economic Zone was established at Kings Romans, Zhao Wei touted that he wanted to help local people since the area was used for drug cultivation and poverty was rampant. He claimed he wanted to create job opportunities, but has he done it yet?
“The issues that concern me all the time are whether any project will first deliver to local people or not. But if such endeavor will simply make people to desperately run away from their homes to seek protection in Thailand, in such cases, the public authorities simply function as henchmen for the ‘grey capital’. And we have gradually seen how the Thai public authorities similarly serve as henchmen for the China’s ‘grey capital’. Otherwise, how could you explain what happened at the Ministry of Industry and how could they allow the China’s ‘grey capital’ to cause such damage in Thailand?
“If they are not henchmen for the China’s ‘grey capital’, how could you explain the (cadmium leak) case? How could the licenses have been issued to such project that violated the law and was implemented without the Environmental Impact Assessment report? We are yet to hear how to investigate the issue, but the Director General of the Department of Industrial Works has already resigned. I do not think he did it out of his guilty conscience though.”
Asked about this take on how the China’s ‘grey capital’ has used Thailand for whitewashing, as massive amount of income from the criminal hub in Myawaddy’s Shwe Kokko and KK Park, or even from Kings Romans, have been poured into businesses in Thailand, Prof. Yos said “I want to cry.”
“Have you noticed the controversies around the idea to liberalize casinos, and the proposed construction of eight casinos here, who are capable of doing this since Thai people have no such skill? Eventually, we have to rely on the Chinese investors. Some people have approached the power that be to convince them that this will yield revenue for the state, why can’t we do it? Singapore has already done it.
“Soon, there will be no need to launder money in Shwe Kokko, just do it here in Thailand. If the same government continues, such casinos will certainly be built here. But if you raise your voice to call for this, they would say ‘OK’ as our politics is based on cronyism. Politicians exploit corruption. The coalition parties rely on political cronyism and monopolistic capitalism. They rely on bureaucratic and military state and conservatism.
“These people have made change impossible. The China’s ‘grey capital’ know full well such status quo works in their favor. People who call out cannot make their voice heard since all the state apparatuses are subjugated to the whim of these people.
Prof. Yos gives an example of Singapore which has lately been so troubled by the China’s ‘grey capital’ since Singapore puts so much faith in its system. It keeps telling itself there is literally no corruption here and therefore we welcome the settlement of more than one million Chinese. Singapore’s total population is only three million. Now, they could not find way to deal with this problem since the China’s ‘grey capital’ has gone there to invest in speculative businesses, to coinvest with Singapore people to do money laundering. Sooner or later, Singapore will lose all of its credibility.
As of now in Myanmar, the Chinese power that be are fluttering their wings through the ethnic armed organizations as indicated in how the Chinese authorities had lent support to the Northern alliances in Myanmar which call themselves “The Brotherhood Alliance” composed of Kokang (Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army-MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA) and their Operation 1027 to crack down on the criminal hub in Laukkai and to expand their offensive in other areas. Meanwhile, the Wah Army which is closely allied with China has expanded its power to the border of Thailand. Meanwhile, China continues to maintain good and strong relations with the Myanmar military junta.
“Traditionally, China cares very much for its own interest. It shares a long border with Myanmar and Myanmar borders India, the country that China does not trust. Politically, China shall strive to build its influence over Myanmar. Myanmar shall be subject to China in whatsoever shape or form.
“Myanmar is the country in which China has breached the rule set out by Zhou Enlai (former prominent leader and the first Prime Minister of China) around 30-40 years ago including non-interference. But Myanmar is the only country China has broken such rule. Now China is beginning to intervene in some African countries. China would not ignore anything that is related to their complex interests. Therefore, China would not leave alone either the Burman or the ethnic people.
“Right now, the Myanmar armed forces are hitting a snag and China knows this. The Myanmar armed forces are no longer powerful and China knows this full well. It is easy for China to bluff all parties concerned pretending to support all parties. They try to prevent Russia to get involved, although the Myanmar armed forces have tried to reach out for help from Russia. Russia itself is also engaging in war and does not want to upset China.
Lastly, Prof. Yos wonders why the Thai government continue to pamper the Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, instead of trying to build relations with the various ethnic armed organizations. This clearly reflects how Thailand’s policies have yet to get adapted.
This is a translation of original Thai article https://transbordernews.in.th/home/?p=38482
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