Why China was so keen to get to alleged cybercrime boss Chen Zhi first

When a film about an investigation into a phone scam in Cambodia debuted at the Busan International Film Festival in 2018, it was not the cast or the plot that drew attention in China. Instead, the focus was on the film’s executive producer, Chen Zhi – a billionaire Chinese businessman who has himself been accused of running a sprawling online scam network in Cambodia. In The Prey – touted as Cambodia’s “first million-dollar action movie” – an undercover Interpol operative ends up in jail. But...