China to send armed patrols on Mekong: report

BEIJING, November 9, 2011 (AFP) - China and several neighbouring countries will provide armed escorts to ships navigating the Mekong River, state media said Wednesday, after 13 Chinese sailors were killed on the key waterway last month.

The sailors died in a raid on two Chinese cargo boats on the Mekong on October 5 -- an attack thought to have been carried out by a notorious gang in the "Golden Triangle" area known for drug smuggling.

Police in Thailand have since detained nine soldiers suspected of killing the sailors, and also thought to have links to a Myanmar drug kingpin.

The state-run China Daily newspaper quoted the Ministry of Public Security as saying China and its Southeast Asian neighbours -- believed to be Thailand, Laos and Myanmar -- would begin armed patrols on the river next month.

"China's contribution to the patrols will come from a special armed force established under the Yunnan Provincial Border Control Corps," the report quoted Cheng Jun, spokesperson for the ministry's border control bureau, as saying.

The ministry refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

The report also quoted Yang Xi, a spokesperson for the Yunnan border corps, as saying that patrol forces would escort both Chinese ships and those from other countries.

The Mekong flows through Yunnan into southeast Asia.

China reacted angrily to the October attack, summoning diplomatic envoys from Thailand, Laos and Myanmar and asking authorities to speed up investigations into the incident.

It also sent patrol boats down the Mekong to escort 164 stranded Chinese sailors and 28 cargo ships home, and has suspended shipping on the waterway, which runs through the four countries as well as Cambodia and Vietnam.

The river normally serves as a major trade route through those countries.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-11-09

I lived in beijing and have friends whom i keep in touch with and they tell me the killing of chinese sailors by thai soldiers is big news in china and really pissed them off.They want to know the full facts on events and not just told its "rogue"soldiers.Dont be asking any favours of china in a while Thailand

I lived in beijing and have friends whom i keep in touch with and they tell me the killing of chinese sailors by thai soldiers is big news in china and really pissed them off.They want to know the full facts on events and not just told its "rogue"soldiers.Dont be asking any favours of china in a while Thailand

Your friends in Beijing should send someone they trust to visit the Chinese casino (technically in Laos I think) up there in northern Thailand and find out how many people have been killed and disappeared there by the Chinese thugs that run that place. I don't think it's any secret that the Chinese traders up there in northern Thailand, Burma and Laos are up to their eyeballs in all kinds of vice and violence. But this is OK with Beijing because it's the foreigners who are the victims.

There you go.13 murdered sailors by thai soldiers.accepted as facts by thailand and some **** goes on an anti china rant with innuendo.another TV loser

There you go.13 murdered sailors by thai soldiers.accepted as facts by thailand and some **** goes on an anti china rant with innuendo.another TV loser

I am not sure why the excitement? A lot of gangsters up there, everyone knows that, and lots of gangsters in Thailand wear one uniform or the other. Everyone knows that too.

Thailand has accepted responsibility and will now do its best to keep its soldiers under control / rogue elements out. And there will be armed escorts because nobody can trust the gangs in the golden triangle.

Fact is Chinese media loves to play the national card, and people love to see that and play along. It will one day come back to haunt them. Nationalism is always dumb, no matter who or where.

Well .... I'm disappointed that KKvampire chose to attack me personally.

What I said is quite common knowledge.

If you want to see a glimpse of it in print, google "Busted Flush", i.e. the May 26 Economist magazine. This is specifically about the casino. It's also easy to find references to the drug smuggling etc if you make the effort. Indeed the boats those "murdered" sailors were in had a million or so Yaa Baa tablets in them. BTW I don't think "murder" has yet been accepted by the Thai's, I believe they said "killing" ... which doesn't mean "murder" and could indeed mean "shoot out").

It may have started as a turf war between two drug syndicates and ended in those killings. But China certainly will milk it to the fullest extent for nationalistic merit as well as flex their muscle further downstream the Mekong. Looks like the Thais have to bend over and take it this time.

And yes, I hope no one is holding their breath waiting for the Thais to rope in their "rogue" soldiers.

The following is from wikipedia .......

Chinese officials also report that drug traffickers are increasingly using women, children, and poor, uneducated farmers to body-carry drugs from the Golden Triangle area to Guangdong Province and other provinces in China.

In China many individuals and criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking are increasingly arming themselves with automatic weapons and grenades to protect their drug shipments from theft by rival organizations. Many firefights occur along the Burma–China border, where larger drug shipments are more prevalent. Traffickers also arm themselves to avoid being captured by the police, and some smugglers are better armed than the local police forces.

Also, reports indicate that acetic anhydride is diverted from China to morphine/heroin refineries found in the Golden Triangle.

etc etc etc ...

Edited November 9, 201114 yr by rogerdee123

Chinese resorting to bit of Gun-Boat-Diplomacy

Chinese resorting to bit of Gun-Boat-Diplomacy

I think they are there to police the Chinese traders as much as they are there to "protect" the chinese traders.

But yes it appears as gun-boat diplomacy.

Ahh wikipedia the foutain of factual info.haha which unbiased non jorno wrote that opinion piece?

Ahh wikipedia the foutain of factual info.haha which unbiased non jorno wrote that opinion piece?

Open your eyes and you will learn a lot little brother :jap:

fake pharmaceuticals, trafficking in women and children, trafficking in small arms and light weapons, stolen cars, etc etc etc etc

Edited November 10, 201114 yr by rogerdee123

As someone pointed out on an earlier post on this topic, Thai minnow Chinese Whale. China were/are always going to stick their chest out on this one. Simply because they can.

jb1

Or maybe because 13 of its sailors were killed unlawfuly in one incident.I mean if it had been 13 from a north american country there more likely to have been a big retaliation by big brother not little one

Pirates of the Mekong? It could of course just be those pesky drug dealers killing each other all over again.

Whatever happened to Khun Sa and his band of merry men? Although I think his lair was farther inland over around Mae Sai or someplace.