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The Chinese funded development projects in Laos and Cambodia have been going on for a decade, they predate and have nothing to do with US tariffs. Because of a
by apatters 7y ago
The Chinese funded development projects in Laos and Cambodia have been going on for a decade, they predate and have nothing to do with US tariffs.
Because of a fragmented and underdeveloped road system it's hard to transport goods by land between China and Southeast Asia today, that's the main Chinese motive here. (Yes, that also includes gaining better access to the Andaman Sea, which simplifies shipping to India, Africa and the Middle East.)
- latchkey 7y agoTo be clear, I'm not saying that these projects started because of the tariffs. It is clear from the progress I've seen first hand, that they have been going on for a long time now... and will continue for a long time. The scale of all of this is utterly massive. What is sad though is that the Chinese are basically taking over two more SE Asian countries and nobody is doing anything about it. Vietnam and Thailand are strong enough to hold onto things, but Laos and Cambodia are not. Every single person I talked to that was local was not happy about it at all. What was explained to me is that they move their families in for these huge construction projects, and then buy up all the surrounding land. Most of the 'for sale' signs in Laos are written in Chinese.