While China declared last year that major telecom fraud hubs near the Myanmar border had been dismantled and tens of thousands of suspects detained, the problem persists

The latest China-brokered truce in Myanmar's civil war is likely to hold for now but lasting peace may still be a pipe dream, according to observers. Myanmar's military government and a major northeastern ethnic rebel group agreed to a ceasefire this month in the Chinese border city of Kunming - the second such pact to be signed there in just over a year.

A key suspect surnamed Yan, who is involved in multiple cases of Chinese citizens recently being deceived to the Thailand-Myanmar border, where they were illegally detained and forced to engage in telecom and internet fraud schemes,

Myanmar's State Administration Council Chairman Min Aung Hlaing has thanked China for its firm support for his country's peaceful and stable development.

Experts warn that China's strategy, focused on the Myanmar military, is failing to protect its own citizens while enabling criminal networks to thrive

By Larissa Liao, Kevin Krolicki and Poppy McPherson BEIJING/BANGKOK (Reuters) - The abduction and cross-border rescue had all the makings of the kind of action script struggling Chinese actor Wang Xing had hoped to land – only not as a reality star.

China says it has brokered a ceasefire between Myanmar’s military government and a major ethnic rebel group in the country’s northeast.

The Myanmar military and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) signed a formal agreement for a ceasefire that began on Saturday, China's foreign ministry said, halting fighting near the border of both countries.

China hopes that Thailand and Myanmar will crack down on cross-border telecom fraud with strong measures and never allow criminals to go unpunished, a Chinese foreign ministry official has said.

The peace deal comes into effect on the weekend but experts aren't convinced it will lead to hostilities easing across the war-torn country.

"The military is in a state of decline; it is weak and shrinking. The military has seen a wave of desertions, defeats, low morale and loss of dignity."

Thailand and China will work together to combat fast-growing networks of illegal call centres along the Thai border with Myanmar and Cambodia, often staffed by trafficked workers, that aim to defraud people in phone and online scams.