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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

Our report shows that Myanmar and its junta are central to the continued existence of this transnational criminal ecosystem, and that continued significant bilateral engagement with junta authorities is incompatible with goals to disrupt the scam industry.

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

The compounds are heavily securitized and fortified, with fences, watchtowers, checkpoints and heavy surveillance,
along with considerable permanent border-crossing infrastructure. That infrastructure directly enables the human
trafficking of victims across the Thai border.

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

The change in nighttime illumination around Myawaddy between 2021 and 2024, with specific scam centre locations annotated. Navy blue shows an increase in nighttime illumination, and red shows a decrease.

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

The specific location of 27 identified scam compounds in Myawaddy township along the Thai border:

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

In Myanmar, scame compounds have become so ubiquitous in several areas that the language has developed a specific moniker, Kyar Phyant, borrowed from the Chinese word for ‘scam’

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

www.aspistrategist.org.au/cyberfraud-e...

Cyberfraud epicentre: Myanmar scam centres are a global cyber and humanitarian threat | The Strategist

Myanmar has rapidly become the global epicentre of a burgeoning cyberfraud industry, a crisis deeply interwoven with the dynamics of the post-coup conflict that has overtaken the country since 2021. T...

www.aspistrategist.org.au

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

Read @aspi-org.bsky.social's full report here. Through extensive satellite imagery analysis, @nrg8000.bsky.social shows that scam compounds along the Thai-Myanmar border have grown from 11 dedicated compounds to 30 since the junta took power in 2021.

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 8

ASPI's exclusive new report, shared with the
@theguardian.com, reveals that the number of scam centers operating along the Thai-Myanmar border has more than doubled since Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021

Read the Guardian's on-the-ground reporting:

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Revealed: the huge growth of Myanmar scam centres that may hold 100,000 trafficked people

Operated by crime syndicates and fostered by the country’s military junta, the number of vast complexes such as KK Park on the Thai-Myanmar border has doubled since 2021

www.theguardian.com

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Sep 4

WOW. China is drilling for oil and gas inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone, a move that analysts believe is likely part of Beijing’s unilateral grab for disputed territory.

Great scoop from @heldavidson.bsky.social and @thejamestownfdn.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

China drilling for oil and gas inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone

Exclusive: Experts say the move could be part of Beijing’s ‘greyzone’ grab for disputed territory

www.theguardian.com

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Aug 15

“The sheer volume of Chinese investment has been so much larger than in the West,” Dr. Wong Leung said. “It meant they could build industries from the ground up, all the way through the supply chain.”

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Aug 15

In this article about China's green tech revolution, the New York Times cites ASPI's Critical Technology Tracker and my colleague Dr. Jenny Wong-Leung:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How China Went From Clean Energy Copycat to Global Innovator

A surge in high quality research and patent applications has cemented China’s dominance in the industry.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Bethany Allen 貝書穎

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · Jul 22

I was today years old when I learned the final appendix to Thomas Paine’s Common Sense — the pamphlet that set fire to the Revolution — concludes with a firm rejection of “mingling religion with politics.”

The context is he’s fighting with Quakers he says aren’t Quakers, but he doesn’t mince words.

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Jul 22

If the world doesn't know that protests are happening in China, it's very hard to assess the Chinese government’s assertions that its policies, and thus its governance model, are successful.

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Jul 22

CDM’s work to document local protests "shows that China has serious social conflicts" that are "exacerbated by China’s political system," said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. "This is the opposite of what the Chinese government claims internationally."

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Jul 22

If the State Department doesn't renew funding for Freedom House's China Dissent Monitor, the world will lose an entire category of knowledge about how people in China are actually experiencing life under CCP governance.

Read my latest:

www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-last-pub...

The last public database tracking protests in China is about to go dark | The Strategist

As global financiers tried in late 2024 to predict how much stimulus Xi Jinping would roll out to boost China’s faltering economy, government censorship of China’s economic data drove them to a surpri...

www.aspistrategist.org.au

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Reposted by Bethany Allen 貝書穎

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · Jul 22

"Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intel Cmte., led by … Marco Rubio."

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Jul 13

Taiwan: I've finally discovered a country where everyone else apologizes to everyone else almost as much as I do, for non-infractions such as dropping a straw in front of a stranger and apologizing because now you have to stoop down in front of them to pick it up.

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Reposted by Bethany Allen 貝書穎

ChinaFile @chinafile.bsky.social · Jun 30

NEW: A ChinaFile investigation into China's powerful, but leaky, internet censorship system at locknet.chinafile.com
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A collage depicting blimps, planes, drones, and ships trawling the sea and sky for digital devices and information.

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Jul 3

There's a family in the coffee shop I'm at who are alternating between Farsi and German. The fact that I understand both these languages has basically never been useful in my career, but it does make me an A+ eavesdropper lol

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Reposted by Bethany Allen 貝書穎

Right Wing Watch @rightwingwatch.bsky.social · Jun 25

Michele Bachmann says Christians should be thrilled about the Israel/Iran war: "We are living in the times that the Bible said that the prophets longed to see. The prophets of the Bible wanted to be alive now!"

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Reposted by Bethany Allen 貝書穎

Jeff Wasserstrom @jwassers.bsky.social · Jun 25

Wow, @columbiagr.bsky.social is keeping up its tradition of eye catching covers. I’ve loved the ones for my books with them and just saw the one they have for a forthcoming CGR that I can’t wait to read (by a writer I admire & on a topic of interest to me) globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-ro...

The Robe and the Sword · Columbia Global Reports

When the robe becomes a weapon, who can stop the violence? We think of Buddhism as a faith of peace—rooted in compassion, patience, and nonviolence. But across South and Southeast Asia today, the robe...

globalreports.columbia.edu

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Reposted by Bethany Allen 貝書穎

Justin Ling @justinling.ca · Jun 23

It is increasingly clear that drones — from reconnaissance UAVs to long-range loitering missiles to uncrewed subs — are a fact of modern warfare.

Yet as it stare down the possibility of imminent Chinese invasion, Taiwan is struggling to build its own drone capability. www.wired.com/story/taiwan...

Taiwan Is Rushing to Make Its Own Drones Before It's Too Late

Unmanned vehicles are increasingly becoming essential weapons of war. But with a potential conflict with China looming large, Taiwan is scrambling to build a domestic drone industry from scratch.

www.wired.com

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Jun 24

"toward"

The Associated Press @apnews.com · Jun 24

BREAKING: Palestinian witnesses and hospitals say Israeli forces opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people.

Israeli forces fire on people waiting for aid in Gaza, killing 25, witnesses and hospitals say

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Bethany Allen 貝書穎

Austin Ramzy @austinramzy.bsky.social · Jun 19

AP: New Zealand has halted millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over the “breadth and content” of agreements the smaller Pacific nation made with China, officials from the New Zealand foreign minister’s office has said

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

New Zealand halts millions of dollars in aid to Cook Islands over deals struck with China

Wellington says it has paused payment of some funding until Pacific island nation takes steps to ‘repair the relationship and restore trust’

www.theguardian.com

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Bethany Allen 貝書穎 @bethanyallen.bsky.social · Jun 17

China tells its citizens in Israel to evacuate.

www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Chinese embassy in Israel urges citizens to leave

The Chinese embassy in Israel has urged Chinese citizens to return home or leave the country via land border crossings as soon as possible, on grounds that the security situation has deteriorated and Israeli airspace remained closed.

www.reuters.com

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