Myanmar says attaches great importance to severely cracking down on online gambling, telecom fraud

YANGON, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar on Sunday evening issued a statement, saying that China and Myanmar had an in-depth exchange of views on further strengthening China-Myanmar law enforcement and security cooperation and jointly combating cross-border crimes such as telecom and online fraud and human trafficking.

The Myanmar side expressed that it attaches great importance to severely cracking down on illegal and criminal acts such as online gambling and telecom fraud, the statement said.

According to the statement, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Ma Jia and Chinese Assistant Minister of Public Security Liu Zhongyi on Feb. 14 held talks with Myanmar's Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs U Than Swe and Union Minister for Home Affairs Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung, respectively.

During the talks, the Myanmar side introduced the specific measures taken by the Myanmar government to combat online gambling and telecom fraud in the near future, and said that it will strengthen coordination with China and other relevant neighboring countries to promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation, and explore the establishment of a regular cooperation mechanism to jointly combat cross-border crimes such as online gambling and telecom fraud, the statement said.

The Chinese side positively evaluated Myanmar's determination and efforts in protecting the safety of Chinese citizens, and stated that online gambling and telecom fraud seriously infringe upon the safety of people's lives and property.

China is willing to actively carry out bilateral and multilateral cooperation with neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Thailand, adopt comprehensive measures, and address both the symptoms and root causes, to jointly stop criminals from committing crimes in relevant countries, eradicate the "tumor" of online gambling and telecom fraud, and maintain the normal order of exchanges and cooperation among regional countries, the statement said.■