Kuala Lampur, Nov. 15 -- China and five Southeast Asian neighbours - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam - have finally taken an important step forward in combating the metastasising cancer of cross-border telecom and online fraud.

Meeting in Kunming, Yunnan Province, their senior officials pledged joint operations, intelligence-sharing, repatriation of suspects, and the creation of a permanent coordination mechanism. This is a welcome development.

But the urgency is far greater than any communique can capture. Unless China pushes forcefully, and unless its Indo-China neighbours cooperate wholeheartedly, the world will soon be confronting a scourge too entrenched, too transnational, and too profitable to dismantle.

For Malay...