And to think how much China accuses others of Influencing their economy. 'No Cambodia left': how Chinese money is changing Sihanoukville
China and India have huge investment around the third world and are fiercely competitive against each other. The Cambodian leadership seems to think a Singapore style future is more attractive than staying more backwards like Vietnam. @Asia-Off-Grid will have a better perspective.
From what I get, China's interest in Cambodia is economic, not political. Uv cuss there is some interaction between the two, but economic hegemony can be had competitively rather than by force, such as what we (think) we see in the South China Sea.
One leads to the other, "China's interest in Cambodia is economic, not political." Sihanoukville Autonomous Port or Port Autonome de Sihanoukville (PAS) is a government agency and state corporation of Cambodia and Sihanoukville that operates and governs the country's sole deep water port.[1] Located in Sihanoukville, in the Bay of Kompong Som at the Gulf of Thailand in south-western Cambodia. The port was inaugurated in 1960 as construction of the Old Jetty's four berths had begun in 1955.[2][3] No doubt what China is after! The country's sole deep water port.
Have Thai friends that come from family that has lived in Thailand for generations that still say they are overseas Chinese and a lot of people, one estimate I saw put it at about 50 million, live in other countries but still consider themselves Chinese as does the present government of China. It is not only money that they are using to gain influence.
If anyone ever believes politicians cannot be bought, they have never visited Cambodia. This little country is more corrupt than the Philippines. And, trust me, I have witnessed countless events involving corruption, in the Philippines. The Chinese have little competition regarding dumping money into Cambodia. The Cambodian leadership only gives a damn about one thing, the vast amounts of money the Chinese are paying them to basically turn this country into "Little China". They don't care what the Chinese do to it, as long as they get their dollars. Sadly, the rich here continue to step on the poor, as though they are floor mats. I hate to see what has happened here. And, it will only get worse. The poor Khmers are still being shit on by other countries - AND their own rich countrymen. When I first arrived here, Sihanoukville, a seaside town, was a quiet, peaceful place to live. Of course, I experienced Lord only knows how many power cuts, during my time there. Often, several hours, to more than a half a day. If you didn't have a generator, you might as well not have a refrigerator. If the Chinese end up in the province where I live - and I hope like hell they don't, I guess my choice will be to find another country to go to, or return to my beloved USA. Or, I guess we could Bug Out from here, and move into the jungle somewhere that wouldn't interest the greedy little bastards. China has come in and dumped TONs of money into Cambodia. They have turned, what was a sleepy little ocean side town - only a few short years ago, into another Macau. Lots of money laundering going on here. The Chinese mafia have also started killing each other here. The numbers of Chinese visitors coming here was over 1.2 million, last year. I am sure it will be up considerably from that, this year. All gambling. They don't care about the beaches, or otherwise - just the casinos. (Khmers aren't legally allowed to gamble, by the way.) Most of the coastline was recently leased for 99 years, to - yep, the Chinese. I predict another 100 casinos to be built soon. Currently, there are probably 40 or 50 in Sihanoukville, alone? When I first arrived in Sihanoukville, there were 5. At the same time, they are killing incomes of most Khmers, buying land up and causing the Khmers to lose their businesses. They are ruining the city, the economy for the locals, and causing expats to move out of Sihanoukville. Their next destination is Kampot, another much smaller coastal town.
