When fleets of young Chinese men arrived in the tiny, Pacific nation of Palau in 2018, authorities wondered why they’d eschewed the archipelago’s pristine shores and coral reefs for a handful of tumbledown buildings on the edge of Koror, its biggest town.

It wouldn’t take long for the story to unfold. These men were the foot soldiers in a new crime wave hitting Palau: digital scammers at the sharp end of a trillion-dollar empire run by the world’s richest gangster, and orchestrated by one of China’s most infamous Triad kingpins. As Palauan cops dismantled the operation, they discovered it had more than a little to do with their nation’s recognition of Taiwan — and Beijing’s attempt to use organized crime to bring Asia’s states to heel.

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