Photo: fmprc.gov.cn

China and Myanmar have reached an important consensus on combating cross-border telecommunications fraud and have agreed to further enhance communication and information sharing to continuously improve the level of cooperation in border affairs between the two countries, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The consensus between the two countries was reached at the 17th meeting on the implementation of the Agreement on Management and Cooperation in China-Myanmar Border Areas at departmental level, which took place in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday. Representatives from diplomatic, defense, commerce, immigration, and other departments, as well as local governments of both countries, attended the meeting.

Both sides positively evaluated the bilateral relationship and the implementation of the agreement in recent years. They exchanged views candidly and extensively on issues such as maintaining clear and stable border lines, ensuring peace and tranquility in border areas, promoting the development and prosperity of border regions, creating a favorable ecological environment in border areas, and upgrading the cooperation mechanism for border affairs.

The two countries have also reached an important consensus on improving the meeting mechanism, facilitating personnel exchanges, and cooperating in cracking down on cross-border telecommunications fraud.

Both sides agreed to further enhance communication and information sharing, and to continuously improve the level of cooperation in border affairs between the two countries.

There have been multiple cases of telecommunications fraud in Myanmar recently. The official website of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar stated on Saturday that five suspects involved in telecommunications fraud were handed over to a Chinese police working group by the Myanmar police at Yangon International Airport and escorted back to China.

This demonstrates China's firm stance in jointly combating gambling-related crimes with Myanmar and other relevant parties, the embassy said.

According to media reports, a total of 19 telecommunications fraud suspects were escorted back to China from Myanmar from August 23 to 25.

Some of these suspects lure victims to invest in fake online investment platforms, while others deceive Chinese nationals into engaging in online investment and financial fraud under the pretext of high-paying job offers.

The police forces of China, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos recently launched a special joint operation, with the aim of combating telecommunications fraud and online gambling crimes, according to media reports.

Global Times