CHIANG RAI – The Department of ASEAN Affairs held a meeting at The Heritage Hotel with Chiang Rai provincial agencies that felt less like a routine event and more like a reality check with regards to Northern border issues, PM2.5, online scam networks, and call center gangs move their bases whenever law enforcement tightens pressure.
The ASEAN Roadshow, hosted by the Department of ASEAN Affairs under Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Nakorn Chiang Rai, was aimed to be more than a classroom-style talk. It connected the daily life of border communities, business owners, students, teachers, and local agencies who face health, economic, and security impacts all at once.
Around 100 people joined the session. The group included Chiang Rai provincial agencies led by the governor, faculty and students from Mae Fah Luang University and Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, plus teachers from the ASEAN Library network across nine northern provinces.
Because the room mixed policy and real-world experience, the discussion quickly moved past ASEAN structure and into on-the-ground needs. People wanted clear answers on what ASEAN mechanisms can actually do and how Chiang Rai can use regional cooperation to improve the quality of life.
ASEAN feels close when you live on the border
Hosting the event in Chiang Rai carried a clear message. This province serves as a key gateway between Thailand and the Greater Mekong Subregion, across trade, tourism, and people movement. When regional conditions shift, problems in a neighboring country can reach border communities within days.
At the same time, ASEAN’s scale can create real opportunities for local areas. ASEAN indicators point to a population in the hundreds of millions, and tourism has continued to recover after COVID. That recovery can support local products and services, including in Chiang Rai, if businesses connect to regional markets in a planned way.
Still, opportunity and risk come together. As cross-border links grow, border gaps also attract trouble. Haze spreads faster than local control. Online scams expand faster than consumer protections in many places.
Key issue: cross-border haze needs consistent cooperation, not yearly requests.
One of the main topics today was cross-border air pollution under the “Blue Sky Strategy” that Thailand promotes with neighboring countries. Ms. Suchada Mekthara, Deputy Director-General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs, described PM2.5 as a direct public health threat and a top national priority.
For that reason, Thailand continues to work with key partners, especially Myanmar and Laos, over the long run, not only during peak-smoke season.
She also pointed to a related multi-sector discussion held in Chiang Rai on December 4. Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar joined the talks, along with experts from China, Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan. The group exchanged views to strengthen cooperation in shared priority areas such as sustainable farming, forest management, early warning systems, and hotspot monitoring. Those tools matter because they support joint work in the next phase.
The central takeaway was simple. Thailand can’t solve haze with domestic campaigns alone. Part of the source sits outside Thai jurisdiction. In addition, the problem is linked to agricultural practices, forest area management, and warning systems that still do not connect well across borders.
On the legal and cooperation side, ASEAN has the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, signed in 2002 and in force since 2003. Bringing it back into focus in Chiang Rai signals urgency. The issue hasn’t faded. Instead, it requires the existing regional framework to work in real operations, not only on paper.
PM2.5 concerns also go beyond daily readings. International public health references show that the World Health Organization tightened its PM2.5 guideline levels in recent years, based on stronger evidence of harm. As scientific standards become stricter, system-wide management must become stricter too, especially in provinces where geography can trap pollution during calm winds.
People also raised the local angle. Thailand’s environmental agencies use a 24-hour PM2.5 standard for domestic monitoring. When levels exceed that benchmark, health risks rise, and communities need clear guidance on personal and public measures.
Transnational crime and call center gangs, people want practical protection
If haze is visible on some days, online crime stays hidden but causes damage every day. So the topic of call center gangs near Chiang Rai’s border came up directly. Residents want stronger coordination that helps stop scams at the source and reduces harm for victims.
Speakers pointed to ASEAN cooperation frameworks on transnational crime. These include ministerial-level and senior official-level processes. The core focus includes intelligence sharing, exchanging best practices, and building toward joint investigations. The goal is to shrink safe areas where criminal networks operate.
Ms. Suchada Mekthara explained that ASEAN has the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime and the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime. She also referenced a Thailand-led cooperation plan on border management. In practice, these efforts support intelligence exchange, shared methods, and more advanced joint work, including tracing complex networks such as mule accounts used to move stolen money.
This focus matches what many countries in the region now face. Scam groups shift locations to areas with weaker enforcement, or they exploit jurisdiction gaps between borders.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs reference materials on ASEAN transnational crime cooperation describe these structures and the direction of joint work. That includes border management and newer forms of crime that change quickly.
International organizations have also warned that online scam networks in Southeast Asia have grown rapidly and operate across borders. As a result, destination countries must support victims and chase money that moves through multiple layers. From Chiang Rai’s perspective, success is not only the number of arrests. It also means reducing incentives, closing tech gaps, and limiting places where these gangs can set up.
ASEAN Libraries, because knowledge builds long-term protection
Alongside heavy topics like haze and transnational crime, the roadshow also emphasized education through the ASEAN Library project. Officials said the program has run since 2014 and expanded to all 77 provinces in 2025.
Ms. Suchada described how schools use ASEAN Libraries to support learning activities about ASEAN. This helps students see a wider picture, understand Thailand’s place in the region, and practice living with diversity. The idea behind it is practical. A stronger society needs more than enforcement. It also needs education, trusted information, and local learning networks.
Next steps mentioned in the session included updating content, adding more digital media, and building a teacher network across nine northern provinces. If that network grows, it can also help share risk information faster. Topics like haze safety, online scams, and misinformation can reach students and families more quickly and in a form they understand.
What Chiang Rai gains from this Roadshow
During the session, speakers summarized ASEAN benefits in three areas: political cooperation, economic ties, and social development. Stability supports business. A stronger economy can raise living standards. Stronger communities reduce vulnerability to cross-border problems.
For people working locally, that broad view needs clear follow-through:
- Environment and health: Chiang Rai can improve how warning data turns into community action, in schools, hospitals, and public spaces. At the same time, officials can keep using existing cooperation channels with neighboring areas where cross-border risk is high.
- Security and transnational crime: Intelligence sharing and best practices should translate into simple public guidance. For example, residents need clear steps to spot scams, freeze accounts, report incidents, and avoid becoming new victims through community and school education.
- Education and human capital: The ASEAN Library network can grow into a stronger base for digital citizenship skills. False information spreads quickly, just like haze. Updated learning materials help prevention last longer than short-term fixes.
Turning “ASEAN” into everyday peace of mind
One message came through clearly. Haze and transnational crime hit people directly, so Thailand must work with neighboring countries continuously, not season by season. From a policy point of view, that signals an effort to raise border problems from local pressure into a shared regional agenda.
However, people will judge success through lived results. They will look at how many days air quality improves, whether alerts reach vulnerable groups, whether online scam victims drop, and whether help channels work when people need them.
Chiang Rai stands on the front line
The ASEAN Roadshow in Chiang Rai on February 12, 2026, showed a shift in expectations. For many locals, ASEAN is no longer a distant concept. It has become a tool they want to see in action against problems that shape daily life, especially cross-border PM2.5 and online crime that breaks trust and drains savings.
Chiang Rai may be one province on the map, but it often feels the impact first and most clearly. Because of that, knowledge sessions matter only when they lead to real steps. Regional mechanisms matter only when people can breathe easier, feel safer, and see better opportunities in their communities.
In the end, the event left more than a schedule and group photos. It left a shared task for government offices, schools, and communities: turn regional cooperation into cleaner air and a safer society for Chiang Rai, and for Thailand as a whole.
