Thailand’s entrenched bureaucracy and deepening ties with China are fueling the expansion of Chinese gray networks, experts warn, threatening to worsen the kingdom’s long-standing trafficking and money laundering problems.
Police raided a luxury hotel in Thailand’s Nonthaburi province, uncovering gambling, drug-related gatherings, and alleged sex services catering to Chinese clients, according to a July 26 Facebook post by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), the country’s national investigative police agency.
Investigators found that the entire property was leased by a group backed by a “Chinese gray network”—a term for unregulated or underground business operations run by Chinese nationals—to serve as a highly secure operating base….
Beijing’s Expanding Influence and Thai Bureaucracy Entrench Chinese Gray Network: Analysts
