BANGKOK (Reuters) – A Chinese actor who went missing near the Thai-Myanmar border has been found in Myanmar and was being sent back to Thailand, Thai authorities said on Tuesday.
Chinese actor Wang Xing was reported missing last week in northern Thailand’s Tak province bordering Myanmar, an area known for fraud factories and human trafficking by criminal gangs.
Thai Police said there were no signs of coercion or kidnapping, but a thorough investigation was underway because the incident had characteristics similar to human trafficking.
The case was widely shared on Chinese social media raising concerns that it could dent Thailand’s hospitality and tourism industry, a key driver of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy where China is the main source market.
“There are incidents that occur, but also rumors blown up on social media that make Thailand look scary,” Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters. “We have to manage this well so it does not impact Thai tourism.”
Last year, Thailand welcomed 35.55 million foreign arrivals with 6.74 million from China.
Thai authorities are coordinating Wang’s return with Myanmar, police said in a statement.
China’s foreign ministry said it was in touch with its embassies overseas and would “continue to follow up on the progress of the incident”.
Criminal-owned enterprises have sprung up across Southeast Asia, especially along border towns in Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, ranging from crypto-fraud to online gambling.
Most of the trafficking victims were from Southeast Asian countries as well as China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, but others came from as far away as Africa and Latin America, according to the United Nations.
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng, Additional reporting Colleen Howe in Beijing; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
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