Since China completely lifted the restrictions on going abroad due to the epidemic, the number of Chinese tourists going to Thailand has been increasing. In 2024, since the Philippine government tightened its visa policy, a large number of Chinese people were forced to move to third countries for work, and a large part of them chose to come to Thailand.
However, in just the past six months, there have been several kidnapping and extortion cases against Chinese people in Thailand.
Recently, Teeradej Thumsutee, the head of the investigation at the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Bureau, revealed in an interview with the Thai media "Bangkok Post": "In view of the current situation, the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Bureau has decided to patrol in areas where Chinese people gather, such as Thonglor, Huai Khwang, and Rama IX, to crack down on illegal activities involving Chinese people and curb the proliferation of Chinese gangs."
At the same time, the Chief of Thai Police, Damrongsak Kittiprapas, also stated that the Thai Immigration Bureau is cooperating with the Chinese government to obtain the Chinese criminal database, which will be used as a reference for issuing Thai visas on arrival to Chinese citizens.
Recently, Thailand has indeed been quite unsettling for our Chinese compatriots.
On March 17, two Thai fake immigration police kidnapped a Chinese woman and her Thai translator in Bangkok and extorted $300,000 in cryptocurrency.
On July 18, three Chinese citizens were arrested for kidnapping a 23-year-old Chinese female student in the Thonglor area of Bangkok and extorting about 3.2 million Thai baht.
On August 20, a Chinese woman was kidnapped by a Chinese criminal gang in Pattaya while picking up her child, and the kidnappers extorted 10 million yuan from her family.
On August 28, a 22-year-old Chinese female student was kidnapped and brutally murdered by three Chinese men in Nonthaburi Province, and her body was dumped in the wilderness.
On September 14, in an apartment in downtown Bangkok, a Chinese man suspected of engaging in fraud in China was kidnapped by his Thai ex-girlfriend, current boyfriend, and three accomplices, and a ransom of 3.9 million Thai baht was demanded.
On October 16, a 30-year-old Chinese citizen was kidnapped in a hotel in the Sathorn area of Bangkok, and the kidnappers demanded a ransom of 1.8 million Thai baht.
On October 17, a Chinese woman in the Huai Khwang area of Bangkok was kidnapped in her apartment by two men and extorted for more than 800,000 yuan.
In just half a year, there have been numerous kidnapping and extortion cases targeting Chinese people. On the Chinese internet, there are continuous doubts about the safety of travel to Thailand, calling Thailand a "kneecap sanctuary," "fake passport distribution center," and "Southeast Asian human trafficking hub," etc.
In Thailand, a series of illegal cases involving overseas Chinese, such as illegal surrogacy/IVF, strict investigation of proxy land/business holding, liquidation of villas/Alphas, and kidnapping and extortion, are also being staged in turn.
All these events point to one keyword: grey production.
The term "grey production" originally refers to industries not clearly defined by national laws, describing a type of business activity that lies between legal (white market) and illegal (black market). Traditional concepts of grey production activities, although illegal and possibly without legal basis, are generally harmless to society.
However, the "new Chinese grey production" that is increasingly rampant in Southeast Asia is different from the domestic definition of grey production. Southeast Asian grey production involves smuggling, telecommunications fraud, money laundering, human/organ trafficking, prostitution, fake documentation, kidnapping, and extortion.
Last year, the prices of Chinese nannies, Chinese drivers, Alphas, and villas all increased, but after the drug-related major case at Jinling International Nightclub, the prices returned to average. This is because the big brothers of grey production came to Thailand to sweep goods in the first half of the year, buying many Thai villas, and necessarily having Chinese nannies at home and Alphas with Chinese drivers when going out. However, as Thailand began to crack down on black activities, the big brothers quickly sold off their villas and Alphas, causing prices to return to normal.
Later, with the revelations of the Thai Bath King Chu Wei and the continuous explosions of various illegal Chinese business associations, the term "grey production Chinese (ทุนจีนสีเทา)" became popular.
Nowadays, Chinese people in Thailand, in addition to being labeled as "wealthy" and "generous," are also tagged with "grey production." This is undoubtedly another major blow to the image and reputation of the entire Chinese community in Thailand.
At that time, although grey production was contrary to public order and morals, it was generally harmless. The Thai authorities also turned a blind eye to these traditional grey productions, as long as they did not cross the line.
In recent years, after several rounds of clean-ups of scam parks in the Philippines and Cambodia, a large number of overseas grey production fish that slipped through the net and remnants were forced to move their bases to Thailand.
With the joining of these new Chinese grey capital forces, the boundaries between black production and grey production in Thailand are gradually blurring.
Some activities such as fraud, drugs, arms, smuggling, and human trafficking, which were previously only carried out in "no-man's land" warlord parks, are slowly infiltrating under the control of white gloves, and even spreading to the royal feet of downtown Bangkok.
Why Thailand?
Although countries rationally do not want grey production to take root in their own countries, they find it emotionally difficult to resist these grey production bigwigs coming to "consume" and "send money."
Especially in Southeast Asian countries with generally low levels of economic development, the attitude towards grey production is ambiguous. So why did grey production people specifically target Thailand this time?
First, Thailand is close to China and has low entry and exit thresholds.
If domestic grey production groups go directly to Cambodia or Myanmar, they might be directly persuaded to return by Chinese customs—however, traveling to Thailand is quite easy, just needing to buy a plane ticket and handle a visa on arrival to smoothly leave the country. Even if there are difficulties upon landing, there are ways to "carry over" and "guarantee over."
Due to the friendly relations between China and Thailand, Thailand is the first choice of destination for many Chinese people traveling abroad, providing grey production personnel with a reasonable reason to leave the country. This travel arrangement is less likely to arouse the suspicion of domestic customs than direct flights to Laos and Cambodia.
Second, Thai visas are easy to obtain, and the cost of living is relatively low.
Although the Thai Immigration Bureau has begun to strictly check various irregular visa holders and overstayers, there are "policies above, countermeasures below," with visa agencies and some immigration officers still figuring out various fancy visa exchange routes and types of visas.
If you are willing to pay the Thai government, you can even buy Thailand's "green card" elite visa. Legally reside for five years, just need to recharge 600,000 Thai baht, and membership comes with a series of additional services—this is simply a breeze for the big brothers of grey production.
Third, the overall law enforcement environment in Thailand is relatively lenient.
In Thailand, law enforcement and supervisory departments have limited resources and capabilities, and corruption is widespread at all levels, which severely hampers the construction and enforcement of local laws and regulations.
The various shocking corruption cases occasionally exposed by Thai and international media, such as "traffic/tourist police extortion," "immigration police opening back doors for grey production personnel," "border officials colluding with smugglers to traffic people," and even "Thai police participating in kidnappings." These terrible cases, although troubling for law-abiding residents in Thailand, bring benefits to the grey production groups in Thailand.
These grey production bigwigs just need to find powerful military-political relationships, hug their thighs tightly, pay "protection fees" on time, and reasonably share "tea money," and these corrupt military-political umbrellas will condone these grey production groups' various illegal activities in Thailand, undoubtedly further boosting the arrogance of grey production forces locally.
Fourth, Thailand is relatively comfortable and safe compared to neighboring countries.
As a traditional tourism powerhouse, major cities in Thailand such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Pattaya have very well-developed entertainment, service, education, and medical facilities. This allows grey production personnel to live a wealthy, peaceful, and relatively normal life in Thailand with their "ill-gotten gains."
Thailand has various Chinese restaurants, convenient takeaway services, cheap Thai nannies and drivers, all kinds of life services available, even not inferior to domestic, rich international school education resources, advanced medical technology, very suitable for families to live in Thailand for a long time (yes, many grey production big brothers also have families).
Compared to the political turmoil, division, war, and gang dominance in neighboring countries, the political and economic environment here is generally much more stable. Although they may occasionally face threats from peers, at least they do not have to worry about armed warlords coming to extort them like in neighboring countries.
Moreover, although Thai citizens can legally hold guns, most have a Buddhist character and are content with little wealth. They will not take to the streets to riot, kidnap, or rob, ensuring daily life safety, and the families of grey production big brothers can also live in Thailand with peace of mind.
Finally, grey production personnel in Thailand can more easily "launder" their illegal gains.
As a new wealthy class among Southeast Asian Chinese, the surviving "piglets" who have become rich need to make their black money legal. Thailand's vibrant free market and relatively lax review mechanisms provide these grey production personnel with an excellent place to launder money.
Their assets are stored in the form of usdt, u (usdt is a widely used US dollar stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency), and in Thailand, it is easy to find underground money changers to exchange usdt for Thai baht cash. Then use Thai baht to buy apartments and villas, becoming landlords and achieving financial freedom; or find Thai partners to hold shares and invest in catering, KTV, and entertainment venues, achieving sustainable and healthy development.
In this way, the proceeds of the scam parks flow into Thailand, while Thailand's legal funds flow out—not only stimulating the local tourism, entertainment, catering, and real estate industries, but also creating income for the local people, achieving a "win-win" for China and Thailand.
What will be the outcome of Thailand's grey production?
We are always optimistic that justice will eventually prevail. But just like world peace is always a beautiful vision, common prosperity is always a goal to strive for.
Without any major changes in Thailand, the big brothers of Thailand's grey production and their families are likely to continue to stay in Thailand, coexisting with us in Thailand. Although grey production is not well-received in the Thai Chinese circle, everyone's body is very honest, and those who can pay are all sugar daddies.
Grey production bigwigs, to a certain extent, drive the economy of the Thai Chinese circle.
Some views think, "Evildoers grind themselves." When the time comes, the Thai government will definitely sharpen its knives and fatten these grey production groups before slaughtering them. But Thailand is a democratic country, "slaughtering pigs" also depends on evidence, even if they know your money was obtained from overseas scams, but the money has already gone through seventy-seven forty-nine processes, and the funds have been laundered clean, making it difficult to trace and convict.
As long as these grey production groups keep their boundaries, keep a low profile, and do not cause trouble or commit crimes in Thailand. Why would the Thai people want to "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, drain the pond to get all the fish"—rather than just make a show, raise a few money trees, and let the water flow long?
Perhaps we should realize: Grey production cannot be zeroed out, and Southeast Asia's grey production has no conditions to be zeroed out.
Grey production is like a virus, as long as China always has low-income groups, there will always be low-income people willing to invest in high-risk, high-return grey production industries (seeing people from the same village, same county, same town getting rich, living in big villas, driving luxury cars, wearing brand-name clothes, wearing brand-name watches, surrounded by beauties, partying every night, it's hard not to be tempted).
As long as Southeast Asian countries continue to experience economic downturns and political instability, it is difficult to refuse the grey income that grey production voluntarily offers.
In the foreseeable long future, our Thai Chinese friends will have to continue to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens: on one hand, dealing with Thailand's occasional "crackdowns" targeting Chinese people, and on the other hand, cautiously coexisting with Chinese grey production.
However, there is no need to be discouraged. After the pandemic, the economies of Southeast Asian countries are gradually recovering, and various industries in China are spontaneously moving outwards and going overseas to pan for gold, bringing more capital to develop the Southeast Asian market.
One day, the governments of Southeast Asian countries will carry out a major cleanup of grey production, possibly "fattening before slaughtering," after all, human blood steamed buns cannot be eaten forever.
