China flexes her muscles

[Rogie]

Perhaps you will recall the incident in October last year in which the bodies of 13 Chinese men were found in mysterious circumstances.

 

. . .two boats, the Hua Ping and the Yu Xing 8, were found on the Thai side of the Mekong, not far from the river port of Chiang Saen, some time in early October.

 

The Chinese authorities say the boats were attacked on 5th October. It took several days to discover the bodies of all 13 victims, most of whom had their hands tied and had been shot.

 

At the end of October the Thai police announced that after speaking to more than 100 witnesses, they were naming nine soldiers from a Thai army unit responsible for security along the Mekong, as suspects in the killings.

 

I remember when first hearing of this incident I thought to myself "that's a really bad move - whoever did this - killing Chinese citizens, they won't get away with this as the Chinese authorities won't take this lying down", and so it proves, apparently . . .

 

Now the trial has started in China.

 

A notorious ethnic Shan warlord, Naw Kham, has gone on trial in the southern Chinese city of Kunming, charged with the murder of 13 Chinese citizens on board two boats on the Mekong River last October.

 

Naw Kham, who was widely believed to run much of the smuggling and narcotics business in the Golden Triangle region where the borders of Laos, Burma and Thailand meet, was detained in Laos in April after a joint operation by the security forces from the three countries and China.

 

Five of Naw Kham's associates are also on trial.

 

The prosecution's case is simple: that the two boats were suspected of trafficking narcotics, bypassing Naw Kham, so he killed the crew to set an example to the hundreds of other ships that ply the Mekong, carrying the expanding river trade, both legal and illegal, between the four countries.

 

Naw Kham is accused by the Chinese authorities of terrorizing Chinese ships along the Mekong for many years. Convicting him for a crime which outraged public opinion in China would be a popular move.

 

I am sure most of us are highly sceptical anything will change as a result of this trial. Putting one drugs warlord behind bars is all window-dressing, he''s probably already been replaced by one or more new 'drugs barons' only too happy to fill the vacuum left behind.

 

So what really happened? We will probably never know.

 

Violent crimes are routinely never solved in Thailand, especially in the lawless border regions, where the security forces are widely believed to collaborate with underworld figures like Naw Kham as often as they try to combat them.

 

Add to that the rivalry and mistrust between the Thai police and military, fuelled by the political polarization of the country in recent years.

 

"The evidence suggests the Thai security forces were involved", says Sunai Chulapongsathorn, chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, which conducted its own inquiry into the killings.

 

 

What is unusual about this trial in China is the fact it's happening at all!

 

Senior Chinese officials arrived in Thailand soon after the boats were found, and demanded action be taken.

 

Within a month, the four countries had agreed to beef up river patrols, although an initial proposal to allow Chinese gunboats to operate along Thai stretches of the Mekong was firmly rejected by General Prayuth Chanocha.

 

The speed with which Naw Kham - previously an untouchable warlord who moved with impunity for many years along the Mekong - was captured, demonstrates the impact of Chinese pressure.

 

The fact that he is being tried in China, even though the crime took place far from Chinese territory, is another indication of how powerful China's voice now is in the region.

 

Thailand has sent ten police officers to testify at the trial. The Chinese authorities have described this case as a model of cross-border law-enforcement.

 

In truth, it has been an example of arm-twisting by the regional superpower.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...d-asia-19671446

[Guest]

China seems to be behaving correctly.

After all, if you have military superpower status, why not apply a little pressure when a number of your citizens get murdered in some minor neighbouring country?

I'm sure the USA would do the same and Britain might have done something similar about a century ago.

[Guest fountainhall]

The fact that he is being tried in China, even though the crime took place far from Chinese territory, is another indication of how powerful China's voice now is in the region.

 

Is that not what the US did with Noriega?

 

As Rogie suggests, I'm not sure that even with all its authority and military might, China will be able to do much about the international drug trade. From what I've read, they have a big enough problem controlling it in neighbouring Yunnan Province where HIV is still being spread through shared needles at an alarming rate.