'Foreign Wives' For Sale? Chinese Embassy Warns Against Marriage Scams In Bangladesh
The Chinese embassy in Bangladesh has warned its citizens to exercise caution when engaging in cross-border relationships or marriages. In a social media post, the embassy advised Chinese nationals to avoid illegal matchmaking agencies and be cautious of cross-border dating content on short video platforms.
It urged individuals to steer clear of illegal marriages, warning that those involved risk being arrested for human trafficking, a charge that can trigger lengthy judicial proceedings. The embassy's message emphasises the importance of following the law and being aware of potential risks when engaging in foreign-related relationships or marriages, cautioning against losing both money and personal freedom.
The Chinese embassy's warning comes amid rising concerns about bride trafficking in China. The country's declining marriage rates, largely due to the legacy of the one-child policy and a cultural preference for sons, have led to a significant imbalance in the marriage market.
With at least 30 million Chinese men unable to find a spouse, often referred to as "leftover men," the demand for "foreign wives" has surged. According to reports, this demand has led to the trafficking of women from countries like Bangladesh, who are lured under false pretences such as marriage, lucrative jobs, or education opportunities, only to be forced into marriages with Chinese nationals and smuggled into China by criminal gangs.
Other than Bangladesh, countries such as Vietnam and Laos have also long been sources of foreign brides. Some agencies have been known to scam prospective clients, taking their money without delivering a bride. For instance, a report by The Beijing News highlighted social media posts offering Laotian women for marriage at prices as high as 200,000 yuan ($28,000). These advertisements often turn out to be fraudulent.
In a notable case, a court in Shandong province convicted two men of human trafficking for running an illegal cross-border marriage agency that scammed clients out of hundreds of thousands of yuan. One Chinese man lost 100,000 yuan after travelling to Pakistan for three months without finding a bride. In another case, a Pakistani woman who was sold by matchmakers reported the agents and the Chinese man involved to the police, leading to their detention for human trafficking.
The idea of importing foreign brides has sparked controversy, particularly after a Xiamen University professor suggested it as a solution to China's marriage decline and sex imbalance. Critics strongly opposed the idea, warning it would promote human trafficking and exploitation.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business Standard
Anti-independence forces stage mock trial against Hasina: Awami League
Anti-national and anti-independence forces have staged a mock trial against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a kangaroo court formed to implement their political objectives in Bangladesh, Awami League said in a statement. Formal charges were filed on Sunday against then Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for crimes against humanity committed during the student-led uprising in July-August 2024. The formal charges state that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was the mastermind behind the inhumane acts such as crimes against humanity, murders, and burning of bodies across the country during the movement to overthrow the government in 2024. These crimes were organised on her orders. Sheikh Hasina's Bangladesh Awami League, one of the largest political parties in Bangladesh, rejected the trial, calling it a mockery. Bangladesh interim government led by Muhammad Yunus earlier banned the activities of Awami League and its affiliated organisations to conduct the trial smoothly. "Today will be marked as a black day in the history of Bangladesh, because anti-national and anti-liberation forces have staged a farcical trial in the kangaroo court formed to implement their political objectives," Obaidul Quader, General Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League said in a statement posted on the party's Facebook page. "Today, various farcical stories and absurd stories have been presented in the name of filing a complaint against Banglabandhu's daughter, leader Sheikh Hasina. The people of Bangladesh do not accept their fabricated farce," he said. "The illegal fascist Yunus government did not conduct a proper investigation into the incidents of casualties caused by diverting the student movement into different sectors through meticulous design in July-August," Quader said. "However, the Honorable Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) had formed a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the casualties. On the other hand, she had demanded an international investigation for greater transparency and impartiality," Quader said. "However, the fascist and militant Yunus blocked the path of this international investigation after illegally seizing power. On the other hand, we are all already aware that 7.62 rifles were used in all killings, which our law enforcement forces do not use," he said. "Not even an autopsy was conducted on any of the bodies. When such major questions arise, moving forward with the trial process without conducting a proper investigation is tantamount to fulfilling one's own political vendetta," he said. "Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina tried war criminals against humanity with the aim of atoning for the history of the birth of Bangladesh. This farcical trial drama is being staged against the successful statesman Sheikh Hasina in retaliation," Quader said. "Yunus, the anti-independence and anti-national forces are uniting to implement the Pakistani prescription. Pakistan, defeated by India, is supporting the extremist communal militant groups in Bangladesh," he said. "There is a deep conspiracy to turn Bangladesh into a militant state. The fascist Yunus, the representative of this militant-terrorist group, wants to destroy the spirit of the great liberation war and the democratic culture and values in Bangladesh," he said. "They want to suppress the voice of the people's leader Sheikh Hasina, the invincible leader of the democratic movement led by the fascist Yunus. They are trying to indict Sheikh Hasina, the leader of democracy and the nation's hero, in a farcical trial in a false and fabricated harassment case so that she cannot return to the country. We strongly condemn and protest this plan," Quader said.
News18
2 hours ago
- News18
Honeytrap Via Indian Numbers: Man Arrested For Aiding ISI Handler To Trap Officials
Last Updated: The arrested suspect was identified as Haseen, who allegedly aided his Pakistani handler in getting access to Indian phone numbers to honeytrap officials. In a major development in the chain of espionage cases emerging in the country, two persons were picked up for interrogation for allegedly aiding their handler in Pakistan to get access to Indian phone numbers to be used to honeytrap Indian officials. The arrested suspect was identified as Haseen, who allegedly shared OTPs with his handler across the border to access WhatsApp and other social media platforms. His brother, Qasim, is also under interrogation, the officials said. IANS. Several cases of spying for Pakistan have emerged since the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. Several people have been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan, including YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, a CRPF jawan, a Rajasthan man, and another employee of the Rajasthan government, among others. More to follow…
India Today
3 hours ago
- India Today
Baloch women now face brutality of Pakistani establishment
Enforced disappearances, the ruthless tactic of the Pakistani establishment's playbook long used on Baloch men, children, and the elderly, is now being unleashed on women. Women are the new targets of human rights violations in Balochistan, a province where flags of independence have been raised by rebels. Mahjabeen Baloch, a 24-year-old, became the latest victim of the Pakistani state's suppression. She was kidnapped in the last week of disappearance is part of a trend in Balochistan. Since the detention and subsequent arrest of Balochistan's lioness Mahrang Baloch in March, the restive province has seen an uptick in women being targeted, a trend that the Baloch Women Forum says "reflects an alarming escalation in the ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan".An enforced disappearance is an "arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law", says the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).advertisement In Balochistan, the duration of enforced disappearances varies, with many missing for years and some for as long as 18 years. The bodies of some are found years later, dumped or buried in desolate trend of forced disappearances of Baloch women comes even as Pakistan reels under a surge of Baloch armed rebel activity, which has shaken its internal security and its keeper, the military Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had in May admitted that the "state's grip on Balochistan is slipping, especially after nightfall". Amid these growing internal fissures, Army Chief Asim Munir is visibly tightening his BALOCH ABDUCTED DAYS AFTER HER BROTHER'S DISAPPEARANCEIn the early hours of May 29, Mahjabeen Baloch, a 24-year-old library science student at the University of Balochistan, was forcibly detained by personnel from Pakistan's Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies. She was picked up from Quetta's Civil Hospital, and since then, her whereabouts remain unknown, reported The Balochistan detention came less than a week after her brother, Muhammad Younus, an engineering student, was also forcibly taken away from their home in Basima, a town in central was reportedly abducted during a night raid carried out by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).advertisement"Our homes have been raided repeatedly by security forces. Our loved ones have been taken from their beds and their mutilated bodies dumped in desolate places... Many still remain lost in the darkness of enforced disappearance," Mahjabeen's family Baloch Women Forum (BWF) has condemned the incident, and said Mahjabeen's disappearance is the latest example of a growing pattern of "state violence against Baloch women".A HISTORY OF REPRESSIVE ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN BALOCHISTANSecessionist sentiment in Balochistan traces back to what many see as Muhammad Ali Jinnah's betrayal in 1948, when the Khan of Kalat was coerced into acceding to Pakistan despite earlier assurances of decades, Balochistan has been a hotbed of unrest, with the ethnic Baloch people agitating against what they perceive as exploitation by the Pakistani establishment, and the Chinese, and their interests tied to projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).The Pakistani military and security forces have used enforced disappearances as a tool to suppress dissent, targeting men, children, and the elderly suspected of supporting Baloch nationalist movements or criticising state disappearances often involve abductions without legal process, followed by torture, and in some cases, extrajudicial stark example is the case of Abdul Ghaffar Langove, a Baloch nationalist and father of activist Mahrang Baloch. Abducted in 2009, his body was found in 2011, bearing signs of severe discoveries are not uncommon; families often find the bodies of their loved ones dumped in remote areas, disfigured beyond recognition, as a warning to to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED), 2,752 active cases of enforced disappearances were recorded in Balochistan as of January 2024, though human rights groups like the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) estimate the number to be closer to 7,000 since UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern in September 2024 about the "increasing rate of enforced disappearance among persons belonging to ethnic minority groups in Sindh and Balochistan Provinces".TARGETING OF BALOCH WOMEN IS A DISTURBING NEW TRENDWith men locked up and killed by Pakistani security agencies, Baloch women have taken on more prominent roles in protests and activism, through movements like the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). As a result, they have also become direct targets of state women have also become suicide bombers for the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as part of the armed to Mahjabeen's detention, the Balochistan-based National Democratic Party said that "for years, Baloch men, elderly and young alike, have faced enforced disappearances", and warned that this "cruel trend has now extended to Baloch women", according to a report in The Balochistan Baloch, the 32-year-old doctor-turned-BYC leader, was arrested on March 22, during a peaceful sit-in in Quetta, alongside her sister Mehran-e-Sareng. For nearly 12 hours, their whereabouts were unknown. She has been charged with terrorism, sedition and February 2023, Mahal Baloch, a 28-year-old mother of two, was detained by the CTD in Quetta after a raid on her home. Her young daughters were also detained overnight. In another case, Rasheeda Zehri was forcibly taken away in February 2023, marking an early instance of this precise numbers of women abducted are harder to verify due to under-reporting, the BWF has noted that the targeting of women is a "deeply disturbing development" that violates cultural norms and human UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, expressed concern over the detention of Mahrang and other women, urging Pakistani authorities to "refrain from abusing counter-terrorism or public safety measures against human rights defenders".advertisement"Mahrang Baloch's case highlights the increasing targeting of women activists in Pakistan. Women who challenge the status quo face not only political persecution but also threats of gender-based violence," Amnesty International's coordinator for Pakistan, Irfan Ali, they came for the Baloch men, then the children and the elderly, now the women. And this signals a troubling expansion of the Pakistani establishment's repression in Balochistan.
