The crime action movie “No More Bets” has been a hit in Chinese theaters this summer for portraying Chinese cybercrime in Burma. Criminal syndicates reportedly lure and kidnap Chinese citizens and force them to work for cybercrime groups, which allegedly have ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a U.S. report. According to data released on Aug. 28 by Maoyan, China’s most prominent movie box office analysis platform, “No More Bets” has consistently topped ticket sales for the fourth consecutive weekend with gross revenue exceeding 3.4 billion yuan (about $467 million). The movie struck a chord with the Chinese audience, as cases of Chinese people being lured out of the country and trafficked to Burma (also known as Myanmar) to work as scammers have been widely reported....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/movie-exposes-chinese-cybercrime-in-burma-5484177
A China analyst says Beijing primarily uses three types of media outlets to exert influence overseas and extend control over the Chinese diaspora. He also raised concerns about repeated meetings between Chinese diplomats in Canada and some media outlets that consistently portray the communist regime in a favourable light in their news reporting. Victor Ho, former chief editor of Sing Tao Daily, delineated the three categories of media: overseas branches of Chinese state media, outlets originally from Hong Kong that have succumbed to Beijing’s influence, and overseas media created by Beijing-aligned Chinese groups. “Bringing media leaders and representatives to the consulate signifies that [the meeting is taking place in] an area under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control,” Mr. Ho said in an interview.... 
Is the “Chinese miracle” fading to black? The world’s second-largest economy is grappling with a plethora of different challenges. The country is facing below-trend economic growth, a plummeting currency, rising youth unemployment, shrinking manufacturing activity, and a property sector seeped in financial problems. China is wrestling with “huge structural problems” that threaten the overall economic moving forward, says Nicholas Lardy, the non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), adding that Beijing will unlikely see growth rates of 8 or 9 percent again. “The boom is over,” Mr. Lardy said. Last year, the Chinese economy reported an annual growth rate of 3 percent. In 2021 and 2020, it was 8.4 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. Since growing more than 14 percent in 2007, GDP growth has been on a downward trajectory....