Posted on 04/06/2008 12:46:05 PM PDT by charles m
VIENTIANE, Laos - A high-rise Chinatown that is to go up by Laos' laid-back capital has ignited fears that this nation's giant northern neighbor is moving to engulf this nation.
So alarmed are Laotians that the communist government, which rarely explains its actions to the population, is being forced to do just that, with what passes for an unprecedented public relations campaign.
The "Chinese City" is a hot topic of talk and wild rumor, much of it laced with anxiety as well as anger that the regime sealed such a momentous deal in virtual secrecy.
The rumblings are being heard even among some government officials, and foreign organizations operating in Laos are being told to refer to the venture as a "New City Development Project" rather than a "Chinese city."
Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad insists the deal poses no threat.
"This is not unusual. Almost every country in the world has a Chinatown, so why shouldn't Laos have one?" he told Laotian reporters.
According to an artist's impression in state-run media, it will have a Manhattan-like skyline. There is no word on how many Chinese will live there. The figure of 50,000 families is widely speculated but Somsavat denied any such number had been agreed upon.
The idea of 50,000 newcomers to a city of 460,000 is one factor causing unease. Another is location: The complex is to go up on the That Luang marsh, an area pregnant with nationalist symbolism and also ecologically important.
It comes at a time when China is rapidly becoming the No. 1 foreign economic and political power in Laos. As migrants, money and influence roll across the frontier, northern areas of the country are beginning to look like a Chinese province.
According to Somsavat, a Chinese company last fall was granted a renewable, 50-year lease to transform 4,000 acres of "rice fields into a modern city," thus stimulating the business and investment climate of one of the world's poorest nations.
Somsavat, an ethnic Chinese-Laotian with close ties to Beijing, explained that when Laos fell short of funds to build a stadium for the Southeast Asian Games it will host next year, it turned to the China Development Bank. The bank offered a Chinese company, Suzhou Industrial Park Overseas Investment Co., a loan to build the stadium in exchange for the lease.
The deal was signed last September, according to official media, with no known prior notice to the public. The company, contacted in Suzhou, declined to answer questions.
At a news conference, Vientiane Mayor Sinlavong Khoutphaythoune said three Chinese companies were involved in the project.
Even some aging revolutionaries are critical, saying they fought to keep out the United States and others during the Vietnam War and now are seeing their own government opening the floodgates to foreigners.
"The Lao people are not strong so they are afraid the Chinese will come in and expand their numbers and turn our country into China. We will lose our own culture," said Sithong Khamvong, a middle-class Vientiane resident and former Communist Party member.
There has been no official word on the conditions under which the Chinese might be allowed to settle in the new suburb. By unofficial estimate, some 300,000 Chinese live in Laos but true figures are impossible to obtain since many have acquired false documentation much as they have done in another of China's Southeast Asian neighbors, Myanmar. The north of that country is taking on a Chinese character.
Also irking many is the site of the planned city — near both the Parliament and the golden-spired, 16th century That Luang monastery, the most important symbol of national sovereignty and a sacred Buddhist site.
The area is now a mix of marshes, rice fields and creeping urbanization despite substantial international aid to preserve it as a wetland.
A 2003 study by the Switzerland-based World Wide Fund for Nature said the marsh is the main runoff for flash floods, a "sewage tank" for a city with no central waste water system, and a source of edible fish and plants for the poor.
"My major concern is that the new city will have an impact on these three factors," says the study's author, Pauline Gerrard.
The mayor counters that the marsh is already polluted and that proper development will improve the environment. Some reports say the area is designed to attract upmarket buyers and will be modeled on the Chinese city of Suzhou, famed for its canals and greenery.
But longtime foreigners in Vientiane can't recall the middle class ever being so angry.
"Lao journalists would like to write about this but they cannot. There is no protest except in coffee shops — in our 'coffee parliaments,'" Sithong said.
Martin Stuart-Fox, an Australian author of books on Laos, says the old generation knew how to balance China's influence and Vietnam's and avoid being crushed between its powerful neighbors.
But this generation has passed, he said in an interview from Australia, and now "it seems to me that the balance is being lost."
Suzhou, China
Although Laos might be geographically close to China, it has a completely different character than China's Suzhou, which the new Chinese city in Laos will be modeled after. Laotian culture is more similar to Indian and Tibetan cultures. The Chinese influx and the construction of a Suzhou model is essentially a sanctioned takeover.
Ping.
So, How long until the Chi-coms take over here and say it too historically is and has been part of greater china?
And how long until they do the same with Japan?
Duh. You sold your national soul to the communist pigs for a mess of pottage in the 1970's, and now the bill comes due. Read it and weep, a-hole.
The Lao are ethnically Tai as are groups in Southern China, Northeastern Burma, the east edge of India and Thailand (particularly the Northeast and North. The language is a Tai dialect. The average Lao will go nuts on this one, even if they are not that crazy about the communists, the bigger problem they are very nationalistic.
China is moving to take over Nepal, Bhutan and now Laos.
Very beautiful temple.
IMHO, the best approach Laos could take right now, would be to emulate Thailand. Even ally themselves with Thailand.
Laos and Thailand share much of the same culture, and language. Thailand has the distinction, of being the only country in SE Asia never colonized by the West.
If Laos were to throw its doors open to the west, perhaps even partnering directly with Thailand, they would prosper and boom to an extent they never would imagine.
And the combined Thai-Lao partnership, would be a powerful bulwark against China’s worst nature.
For that matter - so also Myanmar’s.
So a Chinese company got a loan to build a stadium and a Chinese bank got a lease to build in Laos. What did Laos get? They received the opportunity to turn their capital into a giant Chinese city in exchange for a free stadium.
They are going to have their hands full. Laos has been controlled by Vietnam for decades.
China ping!
Further evidence of China’s growing business prowess beyond her own borders.
IMHO, China alreadys owns these countries - Laos, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia. We fought for them in the 60s/70s, but our own Liberals forced us out. Laos was Communized in 1975 due to this, not due to their own desire to be communist.
My wife is from Laos. We speak to her parents regularly. They are not even aware of their own history and even current events like this because of the information clampdown.
They own a lot of land in the city. We’re speculating as to what might happen to it if the Chinese really come in hard. And, no they are not communist. He wants to sell it, but there’s no money in people’s pockets to buy it. Who knows, the Chinese might just start taking land like this.
Now that China has ‘New Money’, it can develop in these countries it’s been holding by proxy since the 70s.
On a brighter note, when money pours into an area, people realize what they haven’t had for so long. The way I see it, the more money that comes in, the more capitalist the area could become. No matter how hard the communists try to keep control, they’ll lose long term.
All that being said, I’ve followed Laos’ economic situation for a while now, and it’s still too dangerous for western companies to come in to do business. As soon as the communists see a western company make money there, they will take it like Chavez.
I will be in Vientianne first week in May if anyone is interested in communicating. I’ll get as many photos as I can.
AlmaKing
> Laotian culture is more similar to Indian and Tibetan cultures <
What you say is correct. But much more to the point, the language, religion, social structure, food, dress and other cultural characteristics of the Laotion lowlands are virtually identical to those of northeastern Thailand.
So as far as the Thais are concerned, there’s no cultural, linguistic or ethnic reason for southern Laos to be anything other than a province of Thailand.
In fact, it seems to me that if the French hadn’t established a protectorate over Laos in the 1800’s, the territory would probably long ago have been divided into a Chinese north and a Thai south.
China is putting a lot of investment capital into the country, creating jobs and wealth. Hmmmm...guess that is a problem.
I would love to see some current pictures of the country.
in 50 years
the people of Laos
will realize that China considers them no differently than Tibetans or Uighurs - expendable by over-powering demographic dislocation
They certainly do. Believe me, I know! And strangely, it seems its the Chinese who move in right after the farangs are advised that the government knows where the investor's wife and children are. I still think that in the 90s we could have established a firm business relationship with the regime which would have lead to its collapse, preferably in favor of a constitutional monarchy under Prince Soulivong, but the then ambassador, a women named Wendy Chamberlain, had gone native and was more concerned about "protecting the Lao" by collaborating with the genocidal Pathet Lao than advancing our interests. When Bush was elected, we thought things might get better. Silly us. They got worse.
I can't go back there (at least it would be real stupid for me to go back), but Laos is still my almost favorite place on earth.
Thanks for the ping. It seems China is looking to expand its borders even further.
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