China asks Cambodia to crack down on cross-border online scam centers

JAKARTA - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the eradication of online scam centers in Cambodia.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Yi made the call during a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in Phnom Penh.

"Cross-border gambling and fraud endanger people's lives and property and must be dealt with firmly and eradicated completely," Wang told Hun Manet according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement quoted via AFP on Thursday, April 23.

According to data from human rights monitors, Cambodia hosts dozens of online scam centers with tens of thousands of people committing online fraud - some volunteering as workers and some more victims of human trafficking - in an illegal industry worth billions of dollars.

However, under pressure from several countries, including China, Cambodian authorities said they were cracking down on the industry.

Previously, in February 2026, Hun Manet said that online scam centers were destroying his country's economy and tarnishing the country's reputation. He then promised to "clean it up."