Posted on 08/04/2018 6:52:26 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
Inside a lavishly decorated casino where chandeliers hang from the ceiling, cigarette smoke lingers in the air and platters of mango are served to gamblers, a game of baccarat is getting heated. Cards are slammed down, $100 bills are brandished and the gathered crowd of Chinese tourists shout excitedly.
This is not Las Vegas, nor is it Macau. It is Sihanoukville, a once-sleepy city in Cambodia that has become a ballooning enclave for Chinese-run casinos – despite gambling being banned. These towering skyscrapers and vast domed structures covered in flashing neon signs have transformed Sihanoukville beyond recognition in less than two years. It will have more than 70 of them by the end of 2018.
As home to Cambodia’s only deep-water port – part of a vital trade route for President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road development initiative – the city has become a focal point for Chinese investment. Vast Chinese-run construction projects are visible across almost every area of the city and its high streets are now lined with majority-Chinese businesses and restaurants. Prime minister Hun Sen’s willing embrace of Chinese investment, unlike neighbouring countries Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, has ensured Cambodia is at the core of belt and road plans in southeast Asia. The southern coast of Cambodia is now home to $4.2bn worth of power plants and offshore oil operations all owned by Chinese companies. Beyond Sihanoukville, belt and road money is financing a new highway to Phnom Penh and a bigger airport in the capital.
The speed of development has left many locals unnerved. Some estimate that the Chinese make up almost 20% of the town’s population. Of the total number of foreign arrivals in 2017, nearly 120,000 were Chinese – an increase of 126% year-on-year. This fear has fuelled rising hostility among locals towards the
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
China is in Africa, Pakistan and Cambodia. Some folks are watching what they are doing. Hell, they are here in the US too owning properties.
As the world turns.
And building up their navy as fast as possible to defend their expanding empire. I think we’ve see this play before.
Cambodia is actually a pretty awesome country to travel in. The people are freindly to americans but despise the french (double bonus). The town of Siem Reap (which is where you go to visit Angkor Wat) has a surprisingly large and hopping bar area on the aptly named “beer street”. There are massage parlors (legit ones) everywhere where you can get a whole hour of back, body or feet for about 3 dollars. Some nights I splurged and got a second hour. The people are very proud of their strides in rebuilding their education and are proud of even achieving a high school diploma. They have a substantial monument in Phnom Penh (the capital) with some large piles of skulls left over from the killing fields of the khmer rouge as a testament to what happens when leftists get full power.
I would suggest Cambodia, and Vietnam (which has some stunning landscapes, awesome food, and freindly locals as long as you get out of the big cities) as vacation destinations before they get wrecked by rich tourists. Cat Ba island has stunning scenery, and you can still get a huge bowl of pho and a couple liters of beer for 3 bucks
Really not much of an advantage to the Chinese because oil must still come through the straits bottleneck.
Useful for the PLA navy.
You can always tell articles written by women. They always read like novels.
Touche`
You’re a braveman when Mrs. Webheart is not around...
Apparently, holidays in Cambodia are not what the used to be.
To many dead Kennedys’, I suppose.
Xi will have his Silk Road Economic Belt up and running before California has high-speed rail running.
And possibly at a lower total cost.
The casinos are the hives of a spreading insect colony.
Wow! Reminds me of all the talk about Snookie-—years ago.
China buys another country ...
Nice of the US to finance China’s regional hegemony via balance of trade deficits. But not to worry about the increased US defense costs — we can borrow more from China
yeah yeah yeah... and Japan bought California a few decades back. It doesn’t always work out as intended for the foreign purchaser.
China has purchased a number of countries in Africa as well. It is working out very well for them. Don’t compare China and Japan - two different economic strategies.
But as Japan discovered when its economy went bad, all the stuff you build & buy in another country during boom times can’t be taken home again. China’s day will come.
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