BEIJING — In less than a week, China conducted a series of executions on a scale rarely seen in recent decades.
In all, 16 core members of mafia-like crime syndicates were put to death for a range of crimes, from murder to fraud and human trafficking.
While all the victims in the cases were Chinese nationals, many of the condemned were citizens of Myanmar, a largely Buddhist country not known for executing crime bosses.
Yet, China was able to convince authorities in Myanmar to hand over suspects.
Observers said Southeast Asian countries might have little choice but to acquiesce, with China showing "merciless resolve" to protect the interests of its citizens abroad.
Bai Yingcang was one of the Myanmar citizens executed earlier this month.
He was a core member of the notorious Bai family, a syndicate at the centre of a massive telecoms scam and illegal gambling operation in Myanmar's border region of Kokang.
The group's activities led to the death of six Chinese citizens but in a televised confession on Chinese television, Bai apologised for harm to many more.
"I would like to represent my entire family, to apologise for the citizens of China and the Chinese government," he said in footage aired on Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).
"Because of our family's actions, we have caused harm to tens of thousands of Chinese people. I am deeply sorry for what we have done."
Other Myanmar executed included Ming Guoping, the second-in-command of the Ming family syndicate, and Xu family crime boss Xu Laofa. Members of a fourth family, the Wei syndicate, have been prosecuted but no sentences have been handed down.
Before the military coup in 2021, Myanmar was in practice an abolitionist state in terms of the death penalty.
After 2021, the junta sentenced more than 160 people, including dissidents and pro-democracy activists, to death, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
But there are no reports of crime bosses being executed in the country.
However, China's criminal law says China can prosecute severe crimes committed by foreigners abroad if the crime targets China or its citizens.
The law has been on the books since 1979 but really came into its own after the Mekong River massacre in 2011.
In that incident 13 crew on two cargo ships were murdered and their bodies dumped in the river.
Drug lord Naw Kham, a Myanmar national, was later extradited to China and executed by lethal injection in 2013.
Lin Minwang, an international relations scholar at Fudan University, said the news of the massacre that year shocked China and triggered widespread anger, prompting China's law enforcement agencies to take a much tougher line on crimes against Chinese citizens.
Lin said the recent extraditions and the executions were partly a "display of strength", with Southeast Asian countries forced to compromise because of the leverage China has over them.
"Put simply, why did Myanmar's authorities ultimately hand these people over? They had little choice. If they hadn't, China has various means to apply pressure," Lin said.
"Its military government is already under significant domestic and international strain and needs support to survive. China is one of its most important backers.
Lin said that in the past China - particularly some diplomats - tended to be cautious and mindful of other countries' sensitivities.
"However, this time it is very clear the push comes from the public security authorities, as domestic anger grows stronger," he said.
The anger has grown over the past decade or so as countless Chinese have fallen prey to cybercrimes in the region, lured over the border by the promise of high-paying jobs only to be trapped - and sometimes killed - in scam compounds.
Chinese Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong has repeatedly called for crackdowns on cyberscams, describing the illegal operations as a "global scourge".
Chinese envoys to Myanmar have also raised the issue.
On a visit to Myanmar in 2023, then foreign minister Qin Gang could not have been clearer.
"Telecom and online fraud gangs have long been entrenched in Myanmar's border regions, seriously harming the interests of Chinese citizens, and the Chinese public is deeply angered by this," Qin said.
"The Chinese government attaches great importance to the issue and is determined to crack down on it with firm and forceful measures."
After the crime bosses were put to death this year, China's foreign ministry described the executions as marking "significant progress" in the country's crackdown on online scams, its efforts to protect the interests of Chinese citizens and cross-border law enforcement.
Wang Jiangyu, an international law professor at City University of Hong Kong, said the extraditions were a strong sign of China's sway in the region.
"The key members of the four big crime families in Myanmar were apprehended by China, undoubtedly demonstrating China's influence in regional diplomacy and its power in those surrounding countries," Wang Jiangyu said.
"The local governments did not cooperate willingly - they acted under pressure."
Lin from Fudan University said that for China the issue was not a question of diplomacy.
"I think this goes beyond conventional diplomatic framing. China as a major power is prioritising domestic interests. In this latest round of actions, the driving considerations appear to be primarily domestic, with diplomatic concerns likely taking a secondary place."
This is also the case with Cambodia, another hub of billion-dollar cyberscam empires.
In early January, Phnom Penh revoked the Cambodian citizenship of crime boss Chen Zhi and handed him over to China.
Chen is also wanted by the United States and Britain. He was charged by a federal court in New York in October and UScopy5 billion in his crypto assets were seized.
"[Those cases show China's] tremendous resolve, the deterrent power of its law, and a merciless approach to handle criminals harming China's interests overseas," Wang Jiangyu said.
Source: bangkokpost.com, Staff, February 8, 2026
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
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