Liu Ao enrolled in Laos National University in 2022, majoring in International Development Studies. He recently gave an interview with the Epoch Times. Liu’s university regularly organized field trips to study foreign aid projects. The aggressive infiltration of Chinese state-owned enterprises and Confucius Institutes, as well as their connection to telecom “fraud zones,” left a strong impression on Liu.
The Confucius Institute is one of the university’s most competitive departments, requiring high academic scores for admission. Nearly all its instructors are from China. Most of the Laotian students who became proficient in Chinese ended up in the so-called “Golden Triangle” area, engaging in telecom fraud practice against Chinese people. Liu adds bluntly, “There’s no way the Confucius Institute teachers don’t know where their students end up.”
The Golden Triangle region has become one of Asia’s most notorious hubs for transnational crime, involving human trafficking, online fraud, money laundering, drug smuggling, and wildlife trafficking.
Local wages in Laos are extremely low. This has been a driving force behind the Golden Triangle absorbing so many Laotian Chinese-language graduates. Those working as translators or clerks for Chinese companies may earn less than 1,000 Yuan (US$139) per month, while telecom scam operations can pay over 10,000 Yuan monthly. Liu remarks, “It’s deeply ironic – they learn Chinese, only to use it to scam Chinese people.”
Liu also observed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has burdened Laos with massive debt through infrastructure loans, gaining further control over the country’s natural resources. Laos is unable to resist China. In Vientiane, the capital, nearly all major construction projects – shopping malls, high-rises, railways, and development zones – are contracted to Chinese state-owned enterprises.
In the Chinese community in Vientiane, Laos’ capital city, some Chinese have “Guobao” status, referring to special privileges conferred on Chinese nationals allegedly connected to the CCP’s public security apparatus. These privileges can include the ability to carry, buy, or sell firearms.
Source: Epoch Times, June 10, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/6/10/n14528733.htm