Mizzima
China has issued arrest warrants for high-level junta cronies in Kokang accusing them of being involved in running scam call centres that force trafficked people, often Chinese citizens, to scam unwitting victims.
Amongst those who have had arrest warrants issued against them are Kokang Border Guard Force (BGF) founder Bai Suocheng, and Fully Light Group President Liu Zhengxiang and Wei San, the commander of junta-aligned BGF 1006.
Bai Suocheng was originally part of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) but he broke away from them and formed the Myanmar military-aligned Kokang BGF when the MNDAA withdrew from a ceasefire with the army in 2009, after the army said the MNDAA had to become a BGF and attacked the MNDAA in Laukkai when it refused to do so.
The ceasefire had run for 20 years, from 1989 and had led to the formation of the Kokang Self Administered Zone (SAZ) that was governed by the MNDAA until the end of the ceasefire in 1989, when they lost control of the Kokang SAZ
The MNDAA are one of the armed groups currently fighting the junta as part of the 1027 offensive in northern Shan State.
Liu Zhengxiang is a member of the Kokang SAZ governing body and chairman of the Fully Light Group which has over 30 subsidiaries with interests in tourism, gems and mining, amongst others. According to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) the Fully Light Group also opened a casino in Cambodia in 2017 and has been helping finance the junta.
Other senior Myanmar government-aligned figures from Kokang have already been arrested by the Chinese. They include Liu Zhengqi, the son of Liu Zhengxiang.
The Chinese have been pressing the Myanmar authorities to close down the scam centres on Myn=anmar’s borders that target foreign nationals, particularly Chinese people. These arrest warrants show that tghe Chinese do not believe the junt has done enough to stop the scam centres.
It also shows that they tacitly approve of the 1027 offensive by the MNDAA, Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which had as one of its aims the shutting down of the scam centres.
According to Jason Tower from the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) on X (formerly Twitter) these arrest warrants make “the likelihood of Laukkai falling to MNDAA almost certain absent other PRC [People’s Republic of China] moves.”
The arrest warrants for Bai Suocheng Liu Zhengxiang and Wei San were issued along with another seven arrest warrants. According to China Daily, evidence gathered by police in Liaoning, Fujian, and Chongqing indicates that these gangs have been defrauding Chinese citizens for a significant period whilst engaging in grave violent crimes, including murder, assault, and kidnapping.
