On 10th of January 2025, a report from Koh Ewe of BBC News: “How a viral post saved a Chinese actor from Myanmar’s scam centres”.
My name is Terence, and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect the news to the Christian faith.
Here is what happened.
An actor from China, Wang Xing, flew to Bangkok for a job. Then he got transported to Myanmar and went missing. His girlfriend and his brother asked the police and the embassy for help, not much help came. That is until they posted Wang Xing’s case on social media.
Wang Xing’s celebrity friends shared the news on their social media. And soon all of China is in uproar. The Chinese police and embassy somehow made the case a top priority and Wang Xing was soon photographed safe and free.
He also said there were 50 Chinese nationals in the scam centre.
Which immediately begs the question, why was he the only one saved? What about the other 50? Or why limit it to Chinese nationals? This is a scam centre, it’s a criminal activity, why wasn’t it completely shut down.
Koh Ewe’s article explains that the scam centre saw that Wang Xing’s disappearance was creating a lot of unwanted attention. So, a deal must have been struck to let him go as long as the scam centre was left alone.
Now, it just so happened that today, I read chapter 2 of Tom Schreiner’s book “40 Questions about Christians and Biblical Law”. He writes:
The first fourteen chapters of Exodus describe God’s redemption of his people from Egyptian bondage. Their redemption is an act of divine grace and cannot be ascribed to the obedience of Israel. The Lord did not choose Israel because of her righteousness, for nothing inherent in Israel commended her as a nation before the Lord.
Then he quotes Deuteronomy 9:4-5, where God says exactly that.
So, why was Israel, the slave of Egypt, freed? It was not because they were good people, obedient and devout worshippers of God. God made clear what he thought of them. God saved them because he counts them as his people and saving his people is part of who he is.
So, why was Wang Xing, the slave of Myanmar scam centres, freed? It was not because he was good. China did not care of his moral goodness.
I will give one positive and one negative answer.
The positive answer is China saves its own people. That’s what countries should do, whether it’s America, Israel, every country should save its citizens from overseas criminals. That is the duty of the state, to protect its citizens.
And for big countries like US or China, they can lean very heavily on the smaller countries to do the ‘right thing’.
The negative answer comes from the fact that there were 50 other Chinese nationals who were not saved by China. So, China saving Wang Xing is not looking less like a state doing its duty to protect its citizens and looking more like a state acting on self-interest. The social media noise was becoming a threat to social order and the government wanted to close the case fast and move on.
Hence, why the 50 nobodies were not part of the deal. Knowing this, the Chinese Netizens have prepared a name list and are petitioning the Chinese government to rescue all of its citizens, not just the ones with rich, famous and powerful friends.
When I picture myself in Wang Xing’s shoes in the scam centre, I don’t think I would be rescued because I am a nobody. I don’t have friends with millions of followers. Nor do I have a government who can lean heavily, by which I mean, bully, Myanmar to have a sudden attack of the conscience. So, I would be trapped, a slave, until the day the scam centre has no use for me.
What do they do then? Do they release them or kill them?
So, when we read the Exodus story, we should have a higher appreciation for God. He saved Israel, not because they were good, but because He is good. He saved his people from slavery into freedom. And the good news is the God who saved Israel is the same God who saves us today. The same God on whom we can throw ourselves upon his grace and mercy.
This is the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I interpret the sign of the times. Thank you for listening.