Asian Scam Centers: Are Police, Kingpins Allies of CCP? | China in Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. As Southeast Asian countries target scam centers, Beijing's role is coming into the focus. Is China helping in terms of cracking down on scammers or secretly siding with them? A South Korean company is unveiling a six billion dollar plan to build a factory in Tennessee. The move could help the U.S. reduce its reliance on critical minerals from China, but the plan is already facing a major roadblock. The Texas Attorney General is suing five TV makers, including two from China, over allegations that smart TVs are spying on Americans in their own living rooms. And as oil prices fall this week, China is quietly stockpiling. It's a move that could impact global markets. Southeast Asia, once a major tourist destination, has become the world's most concentrated hub for online scammers. Recently, Thailand's military has opened fire on large scam centers across its borders in Myanmar and Cambodia. Thai officials say many of those who fled were Chinese nationals. Soon after, Beijing sent senior officials to the region, saying China wanted to help crack down on the scams. But questions remain. Is the Chinese Communist Party playing both hero and villain? U.S. investigations, Chinese state-run media reports, and accounts from a former Chinese intelligence agent all point in the same direction. They say Beijing may be deeply involved in encouraging and even financing these scam networks. And some of the top kingpins behind them appear to have ties to the Chinese regime. NTD's Flora Hua has more. After the U.S. stepped up efforts to crack down on these crimes targeting Americans, Southeast Asian militaries have taken action. In recent months, Thailand and Myanmar bombed several scam centers, including KK Park, one of the largest in the region. Local media footage shows Chinese and Thai officials escorted by Myanmar's authorities touring the demolished KK Park as part of a joint crackdown operation. But here's a twist. U.S. officials say a major stakeholder in KK Park has direct ties to the CCP and its United Front Work Department, which is a tool Beijing uses to build alliances. And this isn't an isolated case. Three years ago, Thai authorities arrested another Chinese national for his involvement in gambling and online scams. He was also seen front and center at meetings of China's Belt and Road Initiative. The event, called the Myanmar-China Business Summit, is hosted by a group approved by China's State Council. Here's another account. A former Chinese spy who worked for the CCP's top intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, says one of his primary tasks was tracking Chinese dissidents both at home and abroad and taking action when needed. He recently told Radio Canada International that the CCP helped him land a managerial role at Prince Group, a major scam operation based in Cambodia. That job served as cover for covert CCP operations. The head of Prince Group, Chen Zhi, is now one of the U.S. government's most wanted individuals. Earlier this October, the Justice Department charged the Prince Group saying its network scammed hundreds of Americans. Back in July, a congressional commission released a report examining how China is fueling crimes in Southeast Asia through scam centers. Many of them are owned by Chinese nationals, with the majority of workers being Chinese. The report says these operations help Beijing expand its influence in the region while directly harming Americans. Flora Hua, NTD News. An alliance aimed at countering China's dominance in rare earth minerals is gaining momentum. South Korean company Korea Zinc plans to build a critical minerals refinery in the U.S., with most of the funding coming from Washington. Rare earth minerals are indispensable components in most electronics and weapons. But two of the company's major shareholders have asked a South Korean court to block the plan. Korea Zinc is the world's largest zinc smelter. The over $6 billion project was revealed on Monday. It aims to refine zinc, copper and a range of other minerals considered critical by the U.S. government. Under the plan, the U.S. Department of War will hold a 40 percent stake in the venture, while Korea Zinc's stake will be less than 10 percent. Two major Korea Zinc shareholders asked a court in Seoul on Tuesday to block the deal. They said they were not opposed to the plan, but to issuing new shares to raise funds. They believe this would give the company's chairman more control over the business. Is your television at home spying on you? Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits against five major television companies, including two based in China. They are Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL. Paxton alleges that these TV companies collect TV watchers' personal data. He accuses them of secretly tracking what appears on user screens in real time. The suits claim the technology captures not just TV shows, but video calls, photos and even security camera feeds, fueling data collection without clear user consent. Paxton says the practice violates Texas law. He added that Chinese link companies could be compelled to hand that data to the Chinese Communist Party, which poses a serious national security and privacy threat. NTD has reached out to the TV companies for comment, but did not hear back before airtime. Oil prices are dipping below $60 a barrel for the first time in months, and China is stockpiling due to lower prices. Markets reacted on Tuesday to growing talk of a possible end to the war in Ukraine, which means Russian oil could reenter the global market. Analysts say just the possibility of more Russian oil coming back onto the market is already pushing prices down, as traders speculate sanctions easing. Meanwhile, China appears to be using the price drop to its advantage. Estimates show Beijing ramped up crude oil imports in November, the most in six months, bringing in more oil than it's actually using right now. The country imported almost 1.9 million barrels per day last month. It's almost three times the imported amount compared to October. China doesn't publicly share how much oil it stores, but analysts can't estimate it by comparing how much oil a country imports with how much it refines. That gap has been growing. Lower prices, looser imports, and the chance of discounted are giving China strong incentives to buy now and store it for later. And with China still believed to be below its long-term oil reserve goals, analysts say those imports could stay high as long as prices remain low. At the same time, growing stockpiles, oil sitting in storage at sea, and heavy buying from China could help keep oil prices from falling too far. President Trump said Tuesday that he has spoken to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about releasing Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai. Lai has been found guilty in a Hong Kong court. Trump said he feels badly for Lai, calling him an older man who is not well. He added that it remains to be seen how Xi responds to his request. Rights groups say the case shows how the Chinese regime's national security law is being used to silence critics. Lai now faces a possible life sentence. NTD's international correspondent Malcolm Hudson has more. Hong Kong's high courts found former publisher and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai guilty on Monday of conspiring to collude with foreign forces. It's the city's highest profile trial under a China-imposed national security law, and comes amid years of government suppression of rights and freedoms following the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations. Lai is a 78-year-old British, Chinese, and Taiwanese national. He founded the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper and has been one of the most prominent critics of the Chinese Communist Party. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says Lai was targeted for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. This was a politically motivated prosecution which I strongly condemn. She says the national security law was imposed to silence China's critics and undermine Hong Kong's autonomy and called for Lai's immediate release. Lai was found guilty on two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one of conspiracy to publish seditious material. He has denied all charges. Lai's son, Sebastian Lai, says most people knew the verdict was coming. As you know, the trial has been a destruction of the Hong Kong legal system. I mean, allegations of witness being tortured, no jury, three government-appointed judges, judges that, mind you, shout at my father on multiple occasions during the trial. Jimmy Lai's family says his health has worsened after five years in solitary confinement. Sebastian Lai said his father has lost 22 pounds in the last year alone. The verdict closes a year that marked the essential disappearance of Hong Kong's democratic opposition under pressure from Beijing. The Hong Kong Democratic Party voted to disband on Sunday. Exiled Hong Kong activist Carmen Lau says Jimmy Lai's case is not just a tragedy of a single man. It is a reflection of a, you know, wider and, you know, more brutal reality that, you know, thousands of Hong Kongers are now under. We have almost 2,000 political prisoners in Hong Kong. Lai now awaits his sentencing, which could range from 10 to 15 years, though some fear it will be more. Malcolm Hudson, NTD News, UK. Hong Kong's leader, John Lee, said he has raised Lai's conviction with Xi Jinping, but didn't provide details on how Xi responded. A call to end China's practice of harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience from more than half a million people around the world. They signed a petition calling on the G7 and other countries to stand against Beijing's forced organ harvesting. The petition was launched by Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting and the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China in July 2024. It has garnered more than 500,000 signatures from 34 countries as of December 15th. The petition seeks to compel governments around the world to take the lead in standing up against the Chinese regime's crimes of forced organ harvesting. The abuse targets prisoners of conscience such as detained Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities. Coming up, a forum is examining the key factors behind China's aggression in the Indo-Pacific. They say several conflicts around the world pale in comparison to the rising tensions in the region. That region has a regional war breakout. We are in essentially a global war. And what could determine the outcome if China invades Taiwan? A former commander of the U.S. Army Pacific argues it's the land forces. More on what he thinks is missing in America's strategy on Taiwan after the break. Welcome back to China In Focus. Tiffany Meyer, is the U.S.-China conflict the defining relationship of our time? A forum held in Washington, D.C. warned of the consequences of a war breaking out in the Indo-Pacific and what the U.S. can do to avoid it. NDD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley has more. Certainly the United States can afford is another war in the Indo-Pacific in that region because if that region has a regional war breakout, we are in essentially a global war. If a regional war breaks out in the Indo-Pacific region, meaning China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, that area, then it could result in a global war. That's according to the forum here at the Gold Institute's Strategic Forum at the University Club in Washington, D.C. And this is all happening while the Chinese Communist Party is building up its military at historic levels. The future for the United States of America to continue to get another 250 years out of this experiment is out in the Asia-Pacific Basin or the Indo-Pacific Basin. This century is going to be defined by the relationship between the United States and China, or more broadly, the United States and that of the region of the Indo-Pacific or Asia-Pacific. As for national security, one part of that is economic security and the necessity for reshoring critical minerals and other aspects vital to supply chains that were slowly dominated by China over the past few decades. And for those of you who say, well, you know, I live in Texas. I got my guns. Good luck finding ammo when you don't manufacture gunpowder. Good luck staying in the fight when you don't have access to any medicine. Good luck when you're transporting goods when you don't have any ships. Panelists said that China is trying to drive a wedge between the U.S. and smaller nations in the region with its Belt and Road Initiative. That's where China gives out loans to those countries that they can never repay and thereby taking control of their infrastructure and national sovereignty. And while they're there, by the way, we can help you train your police force. And by the way, we can help you train your journalists. One central message to ensure regional stability is the reunification of North and South Korea as a democracy. Unification is so important because then we can have economic strength to North Korea and people can be free. The Republic of Korea, as well as Japan, they sit at the doorstep of three nuclear weapon states. And that's why it's critical for the U.S. and its allies to push back against Chinese oppression. A strong South Korea, a strong Japan, taking a look at and supporting the island nations in that general vicinity, that's a buffer. We need to work together, America and South Korea as a brotherhood, as an extension of our territory. Now, the forum is calling for strengthening military alliances in the Indo-Pacific, as that is the strongest power to deter China that the U.S. has. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Jack Bradley, NTD News. How might a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan unfold? American Thought Leaders host Jan Jekielek sat down with former commander of U.S. Army Pacific General Charles Flynn to break down what he thinks would really determine the outcome. Let's dive in. General Charles Flynn, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders. Thanks. I appreciate you having me and I'm very grateful to Epoch Times for the opportunity. So let's talk about this headline from the Indo-Pacific, Japan threatening us militarily, China tells German Foreign Minister Reuters. What's your reaction? Well, I look at the two recent incidents of the rhetoric going back and forth between China and Japan, and then just 48 hours ago, aircraft from China basically locking radars on Japanese jets. I think Japan is beginning to take seriously the threats that China has imposed upon them and the penetrations of their air exclusion zone, maritime exclusion zone. And so it's important that Japan step up and take these actions to protect their own people and their own national sovereignty, but also signal to the United States through our treaty and through our alliance that they're not going to put up with this kind of behavior, irresponsible behavior by the Chinese. How important, from the military perspective, is China for the United States? It is the most important. I think by way of threats, it opposes the most dangerous one to the United States. I'll start back a little bit. In 2012, President Xi obviously took over the presidency of the Communist Chinese Party. And again, I'm going to say this right up front. I'm not against the Chinese people, but I am against the Communist Chinese Party. If you just jump forward to about the 2014-2015 timeframe, what was happening was their economy was moving at a pace that was unprecedented. Their modernization efforts had caught up with their training reformations and some of their reorganizations of their military formation. So around the 2015 timeframe, they had a modernization of their military that was kicking into a second gear. They had an organizational change that was going on across their forces, and then they were fielding new capabilities. Of course, their industrial strength was just kicking into that next gear. So when you match up the modernization of their military equipment, the organizational changes that they were undergoing, and then the training reforms that they were putting in place, well, here we are in 2025. So that's a decade ago. As I've said publicly before, if we don't slow their trajectory down, that is a very, very dangerous outcome for the United States and arguably for the globe. And they of course say, well, we're just doing this to protect ourselves. Well, maybe so. On the other hand, I think that the arsenal that they've created, the A2AD arsenal that they've created, which has got a serious amount of reach in all of their forces from hypersonics. Maybe just explain what that is. Yeah. This A2AD arsenal, which is anti-access area denial force, is primarily designed to defeat the strengths of the United States military. And the strengths are our air power and our maritime power, primarily. Secondarily, it's designed to degrade, deny, and disrupt our capabilities in space and cyber. One thing it is not designed to do, it's not designed to find, fix, and finish distributed, mobile, reloadable, and networked land forces inside the Indo-Pacific. And the land force network and the land power network that I'm talking about is built around the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Special Operations Forces. And then the fourth component, which is a really important component, which is the land forces inside of Asia. So when I look at the map, I see people, I see terrain, I see borders, and I see sovereignty. When others look at the map—and traditionally, I think this has been part of our challenge in the United States—we look at the map and we see blue. We see an ocean, and we see air, and we say, well, we can solve this problem with more ships, more subs, more airplanes, more jets, more precision-guided munitions, more satellites. Look, I'm not against a large U.S. Navy and a large U.S. Air Force and all the other capabilities that have to come with things, platforms. In fact, we need them. Why? Because they do only what the United States can do, which is keep the global commons open. What I'm saying is that region is a joint and it's only be solved by joint and multinational applications in all domains. That includes the land forces. The predominant force in Asia is its armies. I'll go through a couple of facts. India, 80% of its military is its army. Indonesia, 75%. Thailand, 75%. Vietnam, 80%. Heck, the Philippines, 70% of its military is its army. It has more divisions than the U.S. Army does, and I could go on and on. The point I'm making is there's a natural partnering and a persistent state of connection between land forces in the region. We cannot discount those forces in the region that are land-based. What do they do? They protect their territorial integrity and they defend their national sovereignty. Some of those forces are beginning to step up in ways that we never saw before. That's one of the things I'm very proud of in my time over the last 10 years out in the region, is really trying to tie together a strategic land power network as a counterweight to what the Chinese are doing. I'll go on a little bit here and also say that some experts, and I'll leave that open, often refer to the Chinese Navy as its center of gravity. I say, no, it's not its center of gravity. Why? Because the military definition is that which you need in order to achieve your objective. My view is you can't invade Taiwan with the Chinese Navy and the Chinese Air Force. You actually have to deliver an invasion force, and that is its Chinese Army. That's the PLAA, of which there are many of them. My point is that we have a way of increasing the indications and warnings to our national command authority by watching the army. Why? Because the army, it actually has to mobilize, move, combat configure, combat load, and then get across the Taiwan Strait in order to seize, hold, and subjugate the people of Taiwan. To watch the full interview, check out American Thought Leaders on EpicTV.com. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. If you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at ChinaInFocus and NTD.com. We'd love to hear from you. For on-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you soon.