She, who says Alice Guo is a spy, extended his crime gang to the Philippines. ‘We are in no way exculpating them from any crimes that may have been committed,’ says Senator Risa Hontiveros
MANILA, Philippines – She Zhijiang is Chinese born, but holds Cambodian citizenship, and owner of Yatai International Holding Group, a company that has been flagged by global anti-organized crime operatives for running a massive human trafficking and cyber fraud network.
That he had an enterprise in the Philippines has been known. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a 2024 report that the Philippines was among several Southeast Asian countries where She had “robust business and investment portfolio…spanning across industries including real estate, construction, entertainment, and blockchain technology.”
She was arrested in 2022 by Thailand authorities over gambling-related crimes. Faced with possible extradition to China, where gambling is illegal, She granted unprecedented access to him and his files to a news team of international news group Al Jazeera. He said there that he is actually a Chinese spy, recruited by China in 2016 in the Philippines. She said that among his fellow spies in the Philippines is dismissed Bamban, mayor Alice Guo, whose Chinese name is Guo Hua Ping.
‘Connected to the Belt and Road’
She’s cellmate in Thailand was Chinese national Wang Fu Gui, who was detained there over credit card fraud. Wang has access to some of She’s decrypted files, including a dossier on Guo, which the dismissed mayor earlier denied.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Tuesday, October 8, that they were able to interview Wang who is now in hiding for fear of his security after the documentary. Wang said, citing knowledge from She and his files, that Chinese espionage and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) are “correlated.”
“Of course, there is a correlation, it has a lot to do with the Chinese government’s exuberant intelligence… There’s also the fact that all of this is totally connected to the Belt and Road, which is also just part of a huge united front and intelligence strategic plan for the whole world, including foreign colonization tactics,” said Wang in Mandarin.
The Belt and Road is China’s massive infrastructure program that spans countries, of which the Philippines is part of, especially during the Rodrigo Duterte government.
“Guo Hua Ping was in the files but her profile did not particularly stand out. It just so happens there is a copy of her state security background there. And her situation with Mr. She has a lot of similarities,” Wang said through a Zoom call with Hontiveros’ office, a video of which was played during Tuesday’s hearing.
She Zhijiang’s Philippine enterprise
She told Al Jazeera he was recruited as a spy in the Philippines in late 2016. Wang said She’s liaison to Guo is possibly a person named Ma Dongli.
“He is Mr. She Zhijiang’s State security contact, he is the second generation of the Reds, he has an American identity, he is also the vice president of the Thai Chinese Association, he was the third highest ranking member of the Yatai before Mr. She Zhijiang was illegally entrapped, there is a high probability that he is also Guo Hua Ping’s handler, and that Mr. She Zhijiang’s contact with Guo Hua Ping is through Ma Dongli, that is the only thing that I can answer,” said Wang.
Hontiveros showed travel records from the Bureau of Immigration to prove that She Zhijiang was in and out of the Philippines, using both his Chinese and Cambodian passports.
In 2014, a company called Chong Hua General Enterprises Company Limited was registered with the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Chinese man who owns 40% of this company is named She Zhi Jiang. In 2015, Chong Hua General Enterprises Company Limited was reported to have employed 154 foreigners who were arrested, and then deported, over online gambling. In 2017, Chong Hua General Enterprises filed a dissolution of partnership with the SEC.
Chong Hua’s She Zhijiang is likely the same person as the self-confessed spy because when we checked the company’s General Information Sheet (GIS) in 2022, the board had changed and one company officer is the Cambodian national Tang Kriangkai. This is She’s alias, according to the UNODC.
‘She has not harmed the Philippines’
In 2023, the United Kingdom (UK) sanctioned She under its global human rights mechanisms because “he has been responsible for, provided support for or obtained benefit from activity that violates the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or the right not to be free from slavery, not to be held in servitude or required to perform forced or compulsory labour.”
The UK sanction also said that “She has been responsible for, provided support for or obtained benefit from the trafficking of individuals to KK Park or Shwe Kokko where they were forced to work as scammers targeting English-speaking individuals and were subject to torture, physical abuse and further cruel inhuman and degrading treatment.”
This is the same criminal template found in the raided POGOs, including the Bamban hub leased by the company that Guo incorporated.
Wang claimed that Guo’s “campaign itself was arranged by Chinese state security.” Guo denied this to the House of Representatives, disputing She’s claim that she asked him for campaign funds. “Hindi ko po siya kilala, at never po akong humingi ng campaign funds…I don’t know him, and I have never asked for campaign funds,” Guo told the House quad committee on September 27.
“Mr. She is grateful to the Philippines and believes he has not harmed the Filipino people. … he is also willing to cooperate with the Philippine government,” said Wang.
Hontiveros said they tried to access She, but his contact to the outside world has now been restricted by the Thai government, and that the Philippine embassy in Bangkok has yet to get feedback from the Department of Foreign Affairs on how to facilitate the request. Yatai refused Hontiveros’ requests, the senator said.
“We know that Wang and She perhaps have their own agenda and interests, and we are in no way exculpating them from any crimes that may have been committed,” said Hontiveros. “Ngunit kung mayroon silang sinasabing posibleng may implikasyon sa national security (but if they are saying something that has possible implications on our national security), it is our responsibility to listen and investigate further.”– Rapper.com
