Mainland Southeast Asia once ranked among the world’s top tourist destinations, boosting its economy and employing millions of people, but corruption set in with the rise of authoritarian regimes and a preference for Chinese currency above all else.
The coronavirus was a decisive blow as Chinese tourists fled and governments scrambled to rebuild what had been an essential part of their post-pandemic economies.
Human trafficking stemming from Cambodia’s abandoned casino industry has since made headlines, and Myanmar’s coup has only reinforced the image of brutality abroad.
Cambodian authorities, who have spent much of the past four years imprisoning opposition politicians, have been dealt a blow. The Laotian economy, saddled with huge debts, was destroyed. Thailand is in a difficult situation, and Myanmar, which is under military rule, is no good.
Compounding Southeast Asia’s already horrific image are a Chinese-made film that had to pass state censorship and a new report released Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), both of which It focuses on human issues in the region. Human trafficking crisis.
The UNODC report confirms what most people already know about the scourge of human trafficking. In other words, the human trafficking scourge originated from casinos that were first established in Cambodia to serve Chinese patrons in the online gambling and VIP junket tour markets.
As the pandemic took hold, deserted casinos were redesigned into “scam parks,” a change that was already in the planning stages prior to COVID-19. Since the pandemic subsided, human trafficking has been pushed to hard-to-reach areas in eastern and southern Myanmar. Thailand remains a supplier and transit country.
The report revealed that “No More Bets,” a fictional film about a Chinese couple who are fooled by offers of high-paying jobs abroad, fall prey to human traffickers, and are forced by criminals to work in an online fraud factory, is 8 It was announced after it was released in May. Syndicate.
“No More Bets” was promoted in China under the slogan “One more viewer, one less scam victim.” The film topped the box office. And more importantly, while it must have received formal state recognition, it hardly feels like a vote of confidence in Cambodia, China’s closest ally in Southeast Asia.
Chinese tourists, like everyone else, are highly capable of voting with their feet. Alternative destinations such as Macau are back in fashion, with the Chinese government encouraging foreign investors to return home and spend their funds domestically.
Cambodians in particular are now worried that Chinese investors and tourists will shower buckets of cash on elites with miraculous returns, even though the basis of the two countries’ special relationship has always been strategic objectives. But if you believe, you are dreaming.
Confirming “No More Bets” and the UNODC report is the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The agency said in a report last month that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and about 100,000 more in Cambodia may be held against their will and forced to work online fraud jobs by syndicates.
Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam form a club known as the CLMV club. It is the last group of countries to join the bloc, once known for its solid unity and bulwark against communism.
Only Vietnam maintains a course that can be traced back to the end of the Cold War, and its trade volume with the United States should be the envy of mainland Southeast Asia. Official numbers are opaque, but their dependence on the Chinese government’s big-money policies is well documented.
Vietnam’s exports to the United States amount to approximately $100 billion annually, while exports to China amount to approximately $58 billion. There is additional gloss in that Vietnam exports an additional $42 billion a year to US allies Japan and South Korea. It also has a trade surplus with the United States and a deficit with China.
To that end, US President Joe Biden visited Hanoi earlier this month to begin talks on the largest-ever transfer of military equipment between the two countries.
Given this, and Vietnam’s fearful image and pro-China policies of its neighbors abroad, it is perhaps not surprising that Vietnam wants to leave the CLMV club, according to ASEAN sources.
