MANILA, 28 July 2004 — Southern China is emerging as a kidnapping capital of Asia, joining traditional hot spots the Philippines and Indonesia, an executive with a leading kidnap prevention and response firm said yesterday.

Kidnapping cases in southern China appear to be rising rapidly and could soon eclipse other Asia danger areas, Ric Parlade, vice president of sales for US security firm Clayton Consultants, told Reuters in an interview.

“It’s starting from a low base so the growth rate is high,” he said, adding that exact figures were not available.

Parlade estimated that 80 percent of kidnappings still take place in Latin America, with 4,000 a year in Colombia alone, but he identified the Philippines, Indonesia and especially southern China as growth areas in Asia.

With only an estimated one percent of kidnappers brought to justice, it often made more sense than robbing banks, he said.

Weak law enforcement and lack of training in dealing with kidnap threats have made other parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia, fertile ground for hostage-takers, he said.

“We think it is growing in the Philippines... because it is two-fold, we have the terrorist problem that’s incubating in the southern part of the Philippines and you have something that’s economic that’s driving the criminals,” Parlade said.

Ethnic Chinese Filipinos have been the main target of kidnappers in recent years, often paying ransoms quickly because of fear that corrupt police may be involved.

A growing number of cases were small “cash and carry” operations, in which relatives are forced to hand over bank cards and codes in exchange for a hostage’s release, he said.

“In southern China, it’s really Hong Kong and Chinese business people who are at the biggest risk,” said Scott Harrison, an analyst with Manila-based Pacific Strategies and Assessments.

“From Hong Kong, they tend to get kidnapped when they go across into Shenzhen or Guangzhou province. There’s a lot of that. It tends to be quick cash and carry.”

Parlade said the hostage-taking in Iraq had become increasingly organized and “hard-core” in recent months and required a fundamentally different approach to hostage-taking in Latin America, where cases are nearly always settled by a payment.

Iraqi insurgents’ sophisticated use of technology to show their victims to the world and refusal to be bought has added a new dimension to the global kidnapping problem.

“It becomes a viable strategy for moving a cause and it works, or is perceived to work, in Iraq. It could be a tactic or strategy that’s used in other parts of the world,” said Parlade.