New | Beijing needs special help from Manila in rescue of kidnapped tourist, says Taiwanese rescuer

Two women, 29-year old Chinese tourist Gao Huayun and 40-year old Filipino hotel staffer Marcy Dayawan, were kidnapped by gunmen from a diving resort in eastern Borneo, Malaysia on Wednesday night. 

The raid was similar to the one that claimed the life of Hsu Li-min, a Taiwanese tourist, in the same district of Malaysia's Sabah state in November last year.  His wife Evelyn Chang An-wei, was taken as hostage by the gunmen and released in December in an operation that remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. 

Gene Yu, a former US special forces officer and a nephew of Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou, who assisted in the release of the hostage, shared his views on the current hostage drama with the South China Morning Post.

What do you think has happened to Ms Gao after she was kidnapped on Wednesday?

My guess is that they are following the same model as when Evelyn [Chang] was kidnapped. They probably outsourced mercenaries along with a couple of Abu Sayyaf operatives to conduct the kidnapping and now they are selling her from subgroup to subgroup back to their strongholds at Jolo and Basilan island area.

Abu Sayyaf is a cellular organisation. She is probably being transported or sold from "outer groups" toward the "inner" or higher-ranking groups until she reaches one that is willing to undertake the risk of sustaining her, and negotiating for a ransom.