All language subtitles for Global.Eye.S2025E12.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

Hello and welcome to Global Eye
from the BBC World Service,

bringing you the very best

of our global investigative
journalism and reportage.

I'm Shawn Yuan, a reporter with
the BBC's Global China unit,

and today I'm in the
Pacific Island nation of Palau.

You may have never heard of it,

or be able to point to it
on a map,

but its critical location means
it's now the staging ground

of a geopolitical flash point

between China, Taiwan
and the US.

Also on this week's
programme...

Police! Police!
Stay where you are!

..BBC Eye tells
the incredible story

of the so-called
"Goddess of Wealth",

the Chinese woman
behind the scam

that led to Europe's biggest
Bitcoin seizure...

..and we'll hear how the Arctic
has become a new front

in a strategic battle
between global superpowers,

with tensions rising
as the region warms faster.

The landscape here
is breathtaking.

This cluster of more than
300 islands

is home to fewer than
20,000 people,

but every year, tourists from
across the world flock here

for its world-class
diving sites -

but its location puts you right
in the crosshairs.

Palau has geographical
proximity to China,

but at the same time
formally recognised Taiwan

as a sovereign state.

Experts have warned that China
is ready to retake Taiwan,

which it sees as its own -
and, at the same time,

Palau enjoys extensive aid
from the US

in exchange for Washington's
unfettered

and exclusive military access -

and all of this means
that this nation

has now become a front line

for a battle for influence
among hostile superpowers.

Palau sits on the so-called
Second Island Chain,

a strategic line of islands

stretching from Japan
to Indonesia.

Control of Palau was critical

in the US's fight against Japan
in World War II...

..and today is part of
a line of defence

that the US sees as essential

to deter Chinese influence
in the Western Pacific -

a fact that the
US Secretary of Defense

emphasised on a trip to the
region earlier this year.

Our goal is to achieve peace
through strength,

by putting America first,

but that means working with
partners and allies

throughout the region,

and in re-establishing

deterrence-building
capabilities right here.

A series of military outposts
on this chain

could be rapidly mobilised
if a war breaks out with China.

This is Malakal Harbor,
Palau's main port,

where diving boats
and cargo ships dock.

It is also a site which
Washington plans to upgrade

to enable access for larger
military vessels,

and is part of an escalation
of US military presence here.

On the northern and southern
tips of the archipelago,

including where I'm standing
right now in Angaur State,

you can see clear evidence
of a soon-to-be-completed

American long-range
radar system.

This could become crucial

for monitoring China's military
activities

in the western Pacific.

Now China has taken notice.

Washington claims that Beijing

is trying to stealthily
keep a close eye

on US military infrastructure
by leasing land here.

While in Palau, we reviewed
official documents

and found that
Chinese businessmen

had leased swathes of land
close to a US airstrip

and the planned
over-the-horizon

long-range radar.

China's Foreign Ministry
did not respond

to requests for comment on
matters related to land leases.

The land has not
been developed yet,

but it is causing concern
in Washington.

The US's strong military
presence isn't the only reason

why China is
interested in Palau.

Behind me is a building

that makes this country even
more important for Beijing.

This is the Taiwanese embassy.

China does not have any formal
diplomatic presence here,

because Palau recognised Taiwan
as a sovereign state.

Isolating Taiwan is key
to Chinese foreign policy,

and that's why Beijing has been
exerting its influence here

in every way it can.

Its trump card - tourism.

Over the years,

Beijing has banned state-run
tour packages from China,

which was the biggest source
of visitors to Palau,

in order to punish
the country's relations

with Taiwan,
according to Palauan officials.

It also reportedly offered
Palau millions of tourists

in 2020 to pressure Palau
to sever ties with Taiwan.

I caught up with
the President of Palau,

Surangel Whipps Jr,
while I was here,

and asked him about these
geopolitical tensions.

We've had a relationship
with Taiwan,

we continue to have a
relationship with Taiwan,

and I think that should
be clear to China,

and they shouldn't tell us
that we have to choose.

If China wants to have
a relationship with Palau,

by all means, you can -
but you cannot tell us

that we cannot have
a relationship with Taiwan.

Behind this geopolitical
power struggle

are local Palauans
who have expressed frustrations

of becoming pawns
in this tug-of-war.

People have told me
that they're worried

the US military expansion

might be inviting unwanted wars
to the country,

and others are worried
about mass tourism

impacts on their environment.

In the face of intensifying
global competition,

Palau's future seems
to be once again

in the hands of
the world's major powers.

Now to the extraordinary story

of a woman jailed for over
ten years for money laundering

in one of the world's
largest ever seizures

of cryptocurrency,

which is now worth billions
of pounds.

Qian Zhimin wanted
to use her vast wealth

to become queen
of her own land -

but following a seven-year

international money laundering
investigation,

her past finally
caught up with her.

The Global China unit has more.

Police! Police!
Stay where you are!

Caught in bed -
the Chinese woman at the centre

of the UK's biggest ever
cryptocurrency seizure.

After several years on the run,

police finally arrest
Qian Zhimin.

The Chinese cryptoqueen pled
guilty to money laundering,

and that's kicked off a
struggle

over who gets to keep
the seized Bitcoin.

So, how did she end up
in the UK,

and are her investors ever
going to see their money again?

CALL AND RESPONSE

The story starts here in 2014,

in Tianjin,
a city in northern China.

Qian Zhimin set up an
investment firm

called Lantian Gerui.

The company promised
investors huge profits

if they invested in their range
of technology projects.

This early promotional video

claims the company
used investors' money

to mine or generate
new cryptocurrency.

These were the bitcoin mines.

An investor we're calling Mr Yu
says the company drip-fed him

apparent earnings, just over
£10, every working day.

That made everyone feel good.

It even gave us the confidence
to borrow more to invest.

Including these loans,
Mr Yu and his wife ended up

investing around £100,000.

I suppose we were just too weak
to resist.

They pumped up our dreams,
until we lost all self-control,

all critical judgment.

Investors got paid extra for
each new person they signed up,

helping the scheme to reach
every one of China's provinces,

pulling in 128,000 people.

The company's marketing
targeted the middle-aged

and elderly, partly by

trumpeting its love of China
as a nation.

Our love of country was our
Achilles heel.

That's what they exploited.

They said they wanted to make
China number one in the world,

to lift the Chinese people to

their rightful place
in the world.

Investors like Mr Yu saw Qian
as the genius behind

the company's incredible
success.

Here, a group of investors hold
up a flag

declaring their love for her.

One investor we spoke to said
that, in person, she was

incredibly sharp and
persuasive.

The company held events in

glitzy banquet halls
and hotel ballrooms.

But Qian was famously
secretive.

She wore masks at large events,

and used frontpeople
to make sure

her name wasn't on any of the
company's paperwork.

In mid-2017, the Chinese police
launched an investigation

into Lantian Gerui,
and the pay-outs stopped.

Investors were left
high and dry.

Several hundred
million pounds' worth

of investments disappeared,

and Qia was
nowhere to be seen.

So, where did she go?

We now know this is
where she ended up -

one of London's most exclusive
neighbourhoods, Hampstead.

She had arrived
on her fake passport

under the alias Yadi Zhang.

One of the first things
she did,

posing as an antiques and
diamond dealer who'd made her

fortune in East Asia,

was to rent this property for
about £17,000 a month.

In her guise as an
international businesswoman,

she recruited a former takeaway
worker, Wen Jian,

as her personal assistant.

Messages Qian Zhimin
sent to Wen

whilst they were looking for
a cleaner

showed Qian was
obsessed with security.

The new assistant
Wen's search history

reveals a dawning awareness

that her boss is not who she
says she is.

Before fleeing China,

Qian bought bitcoin using
investors' money,

which she took for herself
when she fled.

Using bitcoin to fund a lavish
lifestyle proved difficult,

as she found out when she tried

to buy this home
worth £11.5 million.

So, we're here now in the
North London neighbourhood

of Totteridge Common.

This is the house - it's very
grand, but also very discreet.

It's ringed with thick hedges
and trees.

Now, when she tried to pay for
the property with bitcoin,

her lawyers asked what the
source of the bitcoin was,

to which she was unable to give
a convincing answer,

and that raised their
suspicions.

UK legislation aimed at
tackling money laundering

led Qian's solicitors to

identify a potential
compliance issue

with her bitcoin wealth.

One said that her boss had

started mining the
cryptocurrency

and amassing coins
just for fun.

But a check of the blockchain,
the public ledger,

proved that the story didn't
add up.

Solicitors alerted the police,

and in late 2018 they raided
the Hampstead mansion.

Mr Qian was in
a bedroom at the back,

and in a different room
to Miss Wen.

Very large house, fairly messy,

and there was cash almost
everywhere.

Thousands of pounds -
bundles of £20,000 here,

£12,000 there,
envelopes with money in.

There was even a coat
hanging up in a cupboard

that had £3,000 in the pocket.

Hello, madam. I appreciate
you're in bed.

I've just got a record down
your name,

if that is all right.

So, what's your first name,
please?

Yadi Zhang.

I know this is wrong,
but my impression of her

was that she wasn't especially
bright.

Years later,
knowing a lot more about her,

that was an act, and she's very
good at acting.

See, she needs lots of
assistance. Yeah.

DC Ryan's team also found a
document in which Qian set out

her dreams and ambitions,

all carefully itemised and
costed,

some of them running into
the millions of pounds.

These ranged from things like
buying jewellery

and entering into UK
high society...

Oh, here, for "Kingdom Design."

Well, I suppose that must be
the kingdom of Liberland.

..to becoming Queen of
Liberland,

an unrecognised micronation on
the Croatian-Serbian border.

Ultimately,
the pair weren't arrested.

But Qian, seemingly spooked,
disappeared again.

She still needed to convert her
bitcoin stash back into money.

And from afar, Qian continued

to supervise her assistant
Wen Jian.

In desperation, Wen turned to a
now defunct online forum

and found a stranger,
calling himself Ricky,

who was willing to exchange
crypto for cash.

On one occasion, she met him
outside a pub

to pick up 20 grand for
two bitcoin.

During a later search in 2021,

DC Ryan's team found this
ominous note written by Wen.

Sadly for her, officers had
already uncovered another note

containing passcodes for
Qian's bitcoin accounts.

In reality, it was very basic.

The impression that I get
is that Ms Wen and Ms Qian

didn't mix in criminal
circles in the UK,

so they didn't really know
the best way of laundering,

and they were trying to do
the best that they could,

which wasn't particularly good.

It's also in 2021 that the
Metropolitan Police

discover the
true scale of Qian's wealth.

They finally unlock all the
cryptocurrency wallets found on

laptops and hard drives they
had seized three years earlier.

In total, they seized
61,000 bitcoin -

at the time, worth
nearly £2 billion.

Police officers.

SHOUTING

Wait, wherever you are!

Qian was finally
arrested in 2024, in York,

after she was spotted on
CCTV

walking into a rented home.

Police!

I was surprised that
she was in the UK.

I thought she would have left.

Her passport indicates
that she did leave,

but we don't know how
she got back into the UK.

She was very meek.

I went to get
her from the cell,

to bring her
into the interview room,

and she was walking
very hunched over,

walking very slowly,
very small steps.

Now, bear in mind, I'd seen her
on CCTV

a couple of weeks earlier,

so I knew she could walk
normally,

so this was all part of the act
that she's trying to portray,

that she's infirm,

trying to encourage people
to feel sorry for her.

After her arrest,
Qian denied everything.

Qian argued she left China
because of a crackdown

against crypto
entrepreneurs in 2017.

But finally, at trial,
she dramatically pleaded guilty

to charges of money laundering.

So, what now for the
cryptoqueen's investors?

And what will happen to
the 61,000 bitcoins

seized by
the Metropolitan Police?

The Crown Prosecution Service

launched a civil proceeds of
crime case in September

last year,
which will try and identify

the rightful owners
of the seized money.

The difficulty with this case

is that it's very hard for the
victims

to prove their claim
to the money.

Lawyers representing
victims have told us

that only a tiny fraction
of the total number of victims

have actually stepped forward.

And so, last month, the CPS
revealed that it was thinking

about setting up an

unprecedented compensation
mechanism.

But it's unclear if
victims would get back

the initial value of
what they put in,

or if they could also claim
the massive rise in the value

of that investment,
given the price of Bitcoin

has grown around
20 times since 2017.

But the UK Treasury could
also stand to benefit.

Thanks to the incredible rise
in the value of bitcoin,

that haul of 61,000 bitcoin is
now worth more than £5 billion.

That's three times what the
Government would have saved

through its proposed
winter fuel allowance reforms.

Back in China, Mr Yu says
his failed investments

led to his marriage
breaking up.

I owed a lot of money.

I was afraid it would
ruin my son's future,

so I gave up custody of him

and took on
all the debt myself.

Sometimes I had no
money to buy food.

I remember I bought a
box of instant noodles

and lived on that for 15 days.

CALL AND RESPONSE

In 2022, some of Qian's
investors called on

the Chinese government
to make good their losses.

They're now calling on
the UK Government.

We all read Sherlock Holmes,

and that's still the image
of the ultimate detective.

To find all this bitcoin,

we are very grateful.

We hope we get our money back.

That's our great hope. To save
the victims who are struggling

and suffering
would be a noble act.

So, is it possible that there's

any of this bitcoin that's
still kind of out there and

that hasn't been identified and
seized yet? Yes.

We've got a wallet
with 20,008 bitcoins

that in Ms Qian's
notebook says "lost",

and those 20,008 bitcoins
haven't moved since 2017.

And what would that
be worth nowadays?

Well, we'll go for a
billion-and-a-half.

Something like that.

Billion-and-a-half lost,
just in the wind? Yeah.

Here's another piece of content
the World Service has produced

in the last few days.

On this programme
a few weeks ago,

we showed a
BBC Eye Investigation

about last year's mass
protest in Bangladesh,

where hundreds of
people were killed.

EXPLOSIONS

Leaked audio suggested that

former Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina

authorised the crackdown.

Now, Hasina has been found
guilty of

crimes against humanity

and sentenced to death
in absentia.

To hear more about
this monumental case

and what this might mean
for the future of Bangladesh,

you can find the
full story, among others,

on the Global News Podcast
on BBC Sounds,

or wherever you get your
podcasts.

It's not just the Pacific
region that's a battleground

for superpower rivalry.

Global powers have turned

their focus north to the
Arctic.

Russia and NATO have increased

their military presence
in the region,

China is expanding its
influence,

and countries are vying
for the resources

the melting ice might reveal.

The World Service's global
journalism team explains now

why the Arctic has become one
of the world's most

hotly contested regions.

Here's Natasha Peach's report.

What happens in the Arctic
does not stay in the Arctic.

There are things happening
in the Arctic now

that would have been
unthinkable 20 years ago.

This is the
region warming faster

than anywhere else on Earth.

And as the climate changes,

so does its strategic
importance.

We need Greenland
for national security,

and even international
security.

Major powers
are turning their eyes north,

looking for resources,
new routes through the ice,

and a way to strengthen their
position on the global stage.

A lot of countries have come
out with Arctic strategies.

It's part of how the

international order is being
challenged.

To understand this, we need to

look at the world in a
different way.

Far from just a frozen ocean,

eight countries have territory

in the Arctic Circle -

the United States, Canada,

Greenland - which is a

semi-autonomous part of
Denmark -

Iceland, Norway, Sweden,

Finland and Russia.

During the Cold War

between the US and
Soviet Union,

going over the pole was a

potential route
for missile strikes.

Both countries expanded
their military operations,

with the US establishing a base
in the north of Greenland.

But in 1987,

with the Cold War
coming to an end,

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev

proposed the scaling down

of military activity
in the Arctic.

What Gorbachev was trying
to articulate

was a vision where the
Arctic parties would focus

on areas where they could find
common cause.

In the years that followed,
the eight Arctic nations formed

the Arctic Council and agreed
to work together

on research and
environmental protection.

Arctic and non-Arctic states
opened research bases,

with countries like China,

India and South Korea
investigating

how the region impacts
weather patterns

thousands of kilometres away
in Asia.

The Arctic has had this
reputation

of being sort of an exceptional

place of peace and cooperation.

That narrative continued

until Russia's invasion
of Ukraine.

In 2022, Russia reopened
the Cold War's fault lines.

Within months, Finland and
Sweden applied to join Nato,

the Western military alliance.

The Arctic map became
Russia on one side

and Nato members on the other.

The border between Norway,
Finland and Russia

is effectively a front line
for Russia and Nato.

The Arctic saw direct conflict
when a Russian air base

in the Arctic Circle was
attacked by Ukrainian drones.

The region is critical
to Russia's military.

Most of its nuclear capability
is based there.

Russia has reopened dozens
of Soviet-era bases

and used Arctic waters

to test hypersonic
cruise missiles.

Russian and American
fighter jets have come

into close proximity
in the skies near Alaska.

And the West is also expanding
its Arctic presence.

2024 saw Nato's biggest drills

in the region
since the Cold War.

The US Army has reactivated

a specialised
Arctic force in Alaska,

and President Trump
has proposed something bolder.

We need Greenland for
national security,

and international security,

so I think we'll go as far
as we have to go.

The US still has a military
base in Greenland,

and the response to Mr Trump's
suggestion was clear.

Polls suggest most Greenlanders

don't want to be
part of the US.

The majority want to be
independent.

For Donald Trump, a strong
presence in the Arctic is key

to countering the partnership
between Russia and China,

which the two countries

describe as "a friendship
without limits".

You don't even need binoculars.

You look outside,
you have China,

ships all over the place,

you have Russian ships all over
the place.

We're not letting that happen.

Russian and Chinese coastguard
ships have carried out

joint patrols
in the Arctic Ocean,

and bombers from both countries

have flown together near
Alaska.

The worry is that some
of those drills, exercises,

patrols might generate
a risky escalation,

a miscalculation.

China says its actions are

about deepening cooperation
with Russia

and aren't aimed
at third parties.

However, this relationship
has tensions of its own.

There's been a danger,
that Russia's fully aware of,

is that the more and more it
collaborates with China,

the more it's giving
China legitimacy

to act as a very powerful
near-Arctic state.

China describes itself
as a near-Arctic state,

despite being 1,400km
from the Arctic Circle.

In 2018, it launched a range
of investment projects

it called the Polar Silk Road,
but it's hit roadblocks

in communities wary of being
over-reliant on China.

They want to be a polar
superpower.

We want a relationship to
China,

but we do not want
to be dependent on China.

There's no question that it was
trying to sort of have

a significant impact in the
Arctic,

but it hasn't come to fruition.

Most of China's economic
success in the Arctic

has come from partnering
with Russia on projects like

this natural gas
extraction field,

and shipping this gas has been
made easier

by the Arctic ocean's melting
sea ice.

This was how much there was
in summer 1979,

and this is in 2024 -

a reduction of 2.6 million
square kilometres,

which is roughly
the size of Argentina.

Many see this as an opportunity

to exploit the Arctic for
shipping

during the summer months.

The Arctic Ocean is frozen for
most of the year.

Even in summer, it's an
unpredictable environment.

You're going to have a
situation

where there are very small
windows of time

where there could be the
potential to transit,

and that doesn't offer

the certainty the shipping
industry needs.

While questions remain
about shipping,

there's something else
the melting ice may reveal.

There's been this narrative of
the last frontier of sort of

rich access to resources that

haven't been accessible
in the past.

It's estimated that 30%
of the world's undiscovered gas

and 13% of undiscovered oil
is there.

Minerals, too,
particularly in Greenland.

If the US were to gain access
to Greenland's resources,

it could significantly reduce

our dependence on
foreign suppliers,

particularly China,
which currently operates

a virtual monopoly
on the rare earth market.

But getting these resources is
far from simple.

You're dealing with
environments that are remote,

expensive to operate in,
lacking infrastructure,

and where there is very
little skilled labour close by.

Despite this, global interest
in the region

and what further ice melt
might reveal remains,

and that could introduce
further competition

to this already contested
region.

Thanks for joining me in Palau.

We want your feedback
on Global Eye.

Let us know what you think

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We'll be back next week.
Goodbye.