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Maria Siow

Thailand’s launch of a soft power initiative this week is commendable, but its timing clashes with widespread perceptions – especially among the Chinese – that Bangkok has not done enough to tackle the growing problem of scam centres in its region.
On Monday, Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said her government had established the National Soft Power Strategy Committee, with the task of promoting 13 key industries.
These range from tourism, food, film and fashion to festivals, music, art, literature and the performing arts.
The Thai prime minister rightly pointed out that soft power not only strengthened global presence, but also created jobs, attracts investment and expands economic influence.

The move came on the heels of Bangkok’s attempts to promote Thai cooking during Paetongtarn’s recent visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum and the news this week that Thailand leapt to 39th in the 2025 Global Soft Power Index.
But a committee to promote soft power in the Land of Smiles right now appears jarring, given the widespread perception that Thailand is not doing enough to tackle the scam centres along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Myanmar and Cambodia, which share borders with Thailand, have in recent years become havens for transnational crime syndicates operating online scam operations, including romance scams, bogus investments and illegal gambling.
According to the United Nations, criminal gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people, forcing them to work in these scam centres.
Initially perceived as sluggish in their response, Thai authorities have in recent weeks stepped up efforts, offering unprecedented cooperation to disrupt and dismantle scam centres.
Along with authorities from China and Myanmar, Thailand took part in a sweeping crackdown last week in which several scam centres were raided and thousands from nearly 30 countries freed.
The crackdown followed the high-profile rescue of Wang Xing, a Chinese actor who said he was tricked into travelling to Thailand and then whisked against his will across the border into a scam compound in Myanmar’s Myawaddy area.


Earlier this month, after a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Paetongtarn promised to shut down the scam centres and even cut access to power and fuel from the Thai side of the border.
So effective was the latter move that Chinese satellite images revealed that the nighttime landscape of Myawaddy, known for its concentration of telecoms fraud activities, had grown “noticeably dimmer”, according to China’s nationalistic tabloid The Global Times on Tuesday.
Bangkok also toughened up banking and visa rules to try to prevent scam operators from using Thailand as a transit country for moving workers and cash.
However, these actions fed into a widely held view in the region – particularly in mainland China – that the moves were undertaken due to pressure from Beijing and Hong Kong. The latter led a task force to Bangkok last month in a bid to rescue victims from the special administrative region.
The release of high-profile victims like Wang Xing confirmed many people’s belief that, given ample cooperation and political will from authorities, tracking down individual victims in the vast network of scam centres is a real possibility.
It also caused many Chinese netizens to wonder if Thailand felt compelled to take action only because large numbers of Chinese tourists had changed their minds about travelling to the Southeast Asian country.

Last month, Chinese flight cancellations to Thailand surged 94 per cent, according to Bloomberg Intelligence research, with many choosing to travel to Japan and Singapore instead, putting Bangkok’s goal of attracting 9 million tourists from China this year in doubt.
Many said they stayed away due to the aftershocks of the kidnapping, but countless also acknowledged that online narratives – not always accurate – of individuals being abducted to work in scam centres while hitchhiking in Thailand, or worse, having their kidneys stolen, had an impact on their decision not to travel to Thailand.
While Thailand undeniably possesses significant soft power, which it has every right to exploit, its current efforts to promote this image seem out of step with the reality of its troubled reputation in the region.
Rather than focusing on soft power at this juncture, Bangkok should prioritise deeper, more sustained efforts to eliminate the scam centres. Such a move would not only help address a pressing regional issue but also demonstrate to its neighbours and potential tourists that Thailand is genuinely committed to tackling this problem, regardless of external pressures.


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Thailand

Why Thailand’s soft power splash is out of step with reality

Tourists pose for photos at Erawan Shrine at Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Sam Tsang

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra delivers an address on Thailand’s vision for expanding its cultural and creative industries in Bangkok on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Foreign tourists buy street food at a mall in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

China and Thailand join forces to tackle multibillion-dollar scam crisis in Myanmar

A man escorted by Thai soldiers ahead of flight to China. Photo: Khu Sam

Thai soldiers at Mae Sot airport ahead of transfer of alleged Chinese scam workers on February 20 to charter flight to China. Photo: Khu Sam

Saw Chit Thu, leader of the Karen Border Guard Force, speaks to reporters in Myawaddy, Myanmar, on February 17, 2025. Photo: Kyodo

After power cuts to Myanmar scam farms, Malaysians ask for more to be done to get family home

A view of Kyauk Khet in Myanmar’s Kayin state is seen from Thailand’s Phop Phra district in Tak province along the Thai-Myanmar border on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Alleged victims of scam centres board a boat to cross the river on the Myanmar-Thai border to be met by Thai Army soldiers as they are repatriated from Kyauk Khet in Myawaddy in Myanmar’s Kayin state on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

A view of Shwe Kokko town in Myanmar’s Myawaddy district in Kayin state is seen from Thailand’s Mae Sot district in Tak province on Tuesday. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have become major hubs for online scam operations. Photo: AFP

Xi Jinping praises Thailand’s crackdown on Myanmar scam hubs

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is on an official visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: AP 

Thailand shuts power to Myanmar’s scam hub, PM Paetongtarn vows firm action

Thai Deputy PM Anutin Charnvirakul (centre) speaks on the shutdown of power supplies to alleged scam operations across the Thai-Myanmar border. Photo: EPA-EFE

Shwe Kokko city from Thailand’s side of the border. Thailand has suspended electricity supply to some border areas with Myanmar in an effort to curb scam centres. Photo: Reuters

Chinese actor Wang Xing (right) with Thai police last month after he was rescued from a scam park in Myanmar near the Thai-Myanmar border. Photo: AP

AI-assisted scam costs Thai beauty queen Charlotte Austin US$118,000

Police said Thai-British beauty queen and actress Charlotte Austin was one of at least 163 victims deceived by the scam group. Photo: Instagram/itscharlotty

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said she was the target of what was likely an AI-assisted scam attempt. Photo: AP

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Move to promote soft power at odds with perceptions that Thailand is not doing enough to tackle scam centres along Thai-Myanmar border


Move to promote soft power at odds with perceptions that Thailand is not doing enough to tackle scam centres along Thai-Myanmar border.


Diplomacy

Tourism

China-Asean relations

Chinese tourists

Scams and swindles

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Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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My Take | Why Thailand’s soft power splash is out of step with reality

Move to promote soft power at odds with perceptions that Thailand is not doing enough to tackle scam centres along Thai-Myanmar border