Lancang-Mekong countries vow to target telecom and cyber fraud

Senior officials from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam pledged at a ministerial-level meeting on Friday to deepen law enforcement cooperation and launch coordinated crackdowns targeting telecom and cyber fraud.

Delegates from these countries convened in Kunming, Yunnan province, to focus on combating telecom and cyber fraud. They reaffirmed their shared determination to coordinate multinational crackdowns and agreed to strengthen extradition and intelligence-sharing mechanisms.

Representatives from Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Center attended the meeting as observers.

Members of the meeting underscored that cross-border telecom and cyber fraud has become a severe threat to regional economic development, public security, and social stability, inflicting heavy financial and emotional harm on citizens. They called for concerted efforts to eradicate such crime to protect the lawful rights and interests of people across the region.

As an important milestone in law enforcement cooperation, the six nations signed outcome documents and further discussed China's earlier proposal — made during the 2025 Conference of the Global Public Security Cooperation Forum in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province — to establish an international alliance against telecom and cyber fraud.

All parties expressed strong commitment to the initiative, agreeing to develop a standing coordination mechanism, enhance real-time information exchange, and continue joint repatriation of suspects to improve enforcement effectiveness and safeguard regional peace.

In recent years, China has actively implemented the Global Security Initiative and Global Governance Initiative, strengthening law enforcement cooperation with neighboring countries, achieving concrete results.

This year, China, Myanmar and Thailand established a trilateral coordination mechanism targeting gambling and fraud syndicates in Myanmar's Myawaddy region, leading to the repatriation of over 5,500 suspects to China.

Chinese and Lao police jointly raided telecom fraud dens in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Laos, capturing more than 600 suspects. Chinese and Vietnamese police conducted a special operation against online fraud and gambling, arresting 149 suspects. Moreover, joint efforts between Chinese and Cambodian police resulted in 2,141 arrests across several provinces in Cambodia, all of whom were handed over to Chinese authorities.

An officer from China's Ministry of Public Security said that the multinational joint operations against cross-border telecom and cyber fraud are ongoing. Public security agencies are committed to strengthening international law enforcement cooperation with greater determination and intensity to eliminate criminal dens and make every effort to apprehend criminal suspects, thereby effectively safeguarding the safety of people's lives and property.