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Asia Insight

Manila Vice: Xi and Duterte grapple with online casino crime

China wants to kill thriving industry; the Philippines aims to tame it

CLIFF VENZON, Nikkei staff writer | Philippines

MANILA -- With its marble walls, gilded lobby and sign with Chinese characters that can mean "paradise on earth," the Skytop International Club never tried to be subtle.

Opened last year on the fringes of the Makati business district, Manila's Wall Street, the club became known as a place where men would spend big money on booze and women. The decadence ended on Sept. 30, when officers from the National Bureau of Investigation, or NBI, barged in and rescued 95 women -- 91 of them Chinese -- believed to be victims of sex trafficking. Seven Chinese men and seven local cohorts were arrested.

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