China detains suspect involved in kidnapping of Chinese actor trafficked to Myanmar - Wang Xing, a 31-year-old Chinese actor, travelled to Thailand early this month after receiving an unsolicited offe

The recent rescue of kidnapped actor Wang Xing has highlighted the transnational criminal networks that thrive in the region.

While China declared last year that major telecom fraud hubs near the Myanmar border had been dismantled and tens of thousands of suspects detained, the problem persists

Experts warn that China's strategy, focused on the Myanmar military, is failing to protect its own citizens while enabling criminal networks to thrive

The latest China-brokered truce in Myanmar's civil war is likely to hold for now but lasting peace may still be a pipe dream, according to observers. Myanmar's military government and a major northeastern ethnic rebel group agreed to a ceasefire this month in the Chinese border city of Kunming - the second such pact to be signed there in just over a year.

By Larissa Liao, Kevin Krolicki and Poppy McPherson BEIJING/BANGKOK (Reuters) - The abduction and cross-border rescue had all the makings of the kind of action script struggling Chinese actor Wang Xing had hoped to land – only not as a reality star.

China says it has brokered a ceasefire between Myanmar’s military government and a major ethnic rebel group in the country’s northeast.

Myanmar's State Administration Council Chairman Min Aung Hlaing has thanked China for its firm support for his country's peaceful and stable development.

Foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN at a weekend retreat upheld their decision to bar Myanmar’s ruling generals from their summits and limit the country's participation to a non-political level,

Thailand and China will work together to combat fast-growing networks of illegal call centres along the Thai border with Myanmar and Cambodia, often staffed by trafficked workers, that aim to defraud people in phone and online scams.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers are gathering for their first meeting this year under the regional bloc’s new chair, Malaysia, seeking a breakthrough over Myanmar’s drawn-out civil war and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

"The military is in a state of decline; it is weak and shrinking. The military has seen a wave of desertions, defeats, low morale and loss of dignity."