Sihanoukville is booming but it now ‘feels like a Chinese town, not a Cambodian town’, residents complain
- Provincial officials say Chinese nationals own 90 per cent of businesses, including more than 150 hotels and four dozen casinos
- Experts believe many Chinese businessmen are using countries like Cambodia to park their wealth, hiding profits from Communist Party
Ros Sitha was asleep with dozens of other construction workers on the unfinished second floor of the hotel they were building in the heart of Sihanoukville, a booming Cambodian coastal city. The Chinese owners had let the workers live on site – common practice in a city where nearly every block is under redevelopment.
Shortly before dawn, the 40-year-old was jolted awake by a loud crack from the floors above, then another.
Seconds later, the structure gave way, toppling to one side and trapping more than 50 workers beneath hunks of concrete and twisted metal.
For many Cambodians, the June 22 collapse and its aftermath were confirmation that their government cared more about courting Chinese investment than it did about them.
As Beijing expands its economic influence overseas, it has found few partners more willing than Cambodia’s authoritarian President Hun Sen, who has ushered in Chinese state-owned companies to build roads, bridges, hydroelectric plants, industrial estates and a port.