“Soon we won’t be able to feed ourselves. Our business will soon die,” said Doung Sokly, a 30-year-old woman who has been selling drinks, snacks and cigarettes from a cart on Independence Beach for eight years.
But a block away, business is booming at recent casinos which have popped up in recent months. They have names like New Macau and New MGM and only serve Chinese guests. Gambling is banned in Cambodia.
On this sunny afternoon, when the beach was empty, the casinos were filled with Chinese customers who were smoking and throwing $100 bills on the tables. All around were eagle-eyed Chinese overseers and flocks of young local women briefly dresses and long eyelashes.
China is searching for to expand its political and economic influence across the region, particularly through its ambitious “Belt and Road Initiative.” Cambodia is attempting to grow its economy without having to comply with any of the human rights demands that American and European governments insist on.
These two interests directly converge in Sihanoukville, a port city on the Gulf of Thailand named after a king who continues to be revered as the daddy of contemporary Cambodia.
This is where Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s willingness to be welcomed by China is most evident.
“Sihanoukville is a kind of poster boy for China’s development. “China is number one in every economic measure,” said Carl Thayer, a Southeast Asia expert affiliated with the Australian Defense Force Academy and former adviser at U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. “China is definitely trying to displace the United States and they are succeeding admirably.”
For Hun Sen, who has been in power for 33 years and is taking steps to secure re-election in a vote scheduled for late July, the investment means he can boast of economic progress even within the face of the collapse of democratic institutions.
Honestly, I actually have had very bad experiences with Chinese people. They are so rude
The Cambodian government has authorized extraordinary levels of Chinese investment: 30 casinos have already been built and 70 more are under construction.
One mega-development, the Blue Bay casino and apartments, advertises itself as “one in all the long-lasting projects of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative.” Prices for the smallest studio apartments start at $143,000, and essentially the most prized apartments cost over $500,000.
The variety of Chinese tourists visiting Sihanoukville, a city of 90,000, doubled between 2016 and 2017, reaching 120,000 last yr. Restaurants, banks, property owners, pawnshops, duty-free shops, supermarkets and hotels all have signs in Chinese.
But except for those working in hotels and casinos, most Cambodians, whose average income is $1,100 a yr, see little profit from this investment. And the reluctance is growing.
“My business has halved,” said Chhim Phin, who has run a seafood restaurant on Independence Beach since 2003. “A lot of Western tourists used to come here and like to try our food. However, Chinese tourists do not want to eat Khmer food and learn about our local customs, they prefer to eat their own food. Chinese tourists like to stay in their bubble.”
The plot of land next to his restaurant, which was once tourist bars and dance parties on the beach, was reduced to rubble and the lease was taken over by Chinese developers. And when Chinese customers come to his restaurant, Chhim Phin isn’t particularly thrilled with their business.
“I don’t speak Chinese, so it’s very difficult to communicate,” he said. “Honestly, I have had very bad experiences with the Chinese. They are so rude.
Doung Sokly, who drives her stroller, also doesn’t like interacting with new arrivals.
“Western tourists don’t bargain because they want to try local things. But Chinese tourists are really trying to lower prices,” she said.
As if on cue, a bunch of Chinese tourists on the beach burst into laughter and screams. “Listen to them. They’re so loud,” she said, taking a look at the group with a glance of distaste. “It’s so annoying.”
Locals are also concerned about organized crime emerging in casinos and the growing variety of alcohol-related violence cases. After publishing reports on the professionals and cons of Chinese investments, Beijing’s ambassador admitted that “a small variety of low-educated people” in his country are violating Cambodian law.
Not that Western tourists at all times behave well. For some, sex tourism is an attraction, while others have recently gotten into trouble for lewd behavior.
However, one local entrepreneur who’s completely satisfied with the influx of Chinese people is Ko Hong. He rents jet skis, charging Westerners $60 an hour to ride. For Chinese customers, the value is barely USD 50.
“Before, it was more seasonal, but now I can make a lot of money,” Ko Hong said. On average, he earns $200 a day.
Phin and other business owners say accommodation is the principal reason for the exodus of Western tourists and the influx of tourists from China.
The cheaper hotels and guesthouses that locals and Western tourists liked have been pushed out by large Chinese developers who can pay rather more for the land. Those who remain struggle to seek out staff as they’re snapped up for much higher wages.
“There used to be cheap accommodation here, but it’s gone,” said Koeun Sao, a 29-year-old who estimates his tuk-tuk driving income has dropped by 70 percent prior to now three months. “Chinese people drive cars, not tuk-tuks.”
The Chinese investment also didn’t translate into higher roads or other infrastructure in a city fighting basic water and sewage installations.
“All this building they are doing is only for the benefit of the Chinese,” Koeun Sao said. “It’s good for landowners, but not for ordinary people.”
However, each the Cambodian and Chinese governments praise economic cooperation. The Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, a 4.4-square-mile industrial area where 104 of the 121 corporations are Chinese, “is an emblem of the renewed friendship between China and Cambodia, providing real advantages to residents,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrote in a comment to the Cambodian newspaper when he visited in January.
While here, Li signed 19 business deals. These included the development of a highway between the capital Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville to switch the potholed narrow roads currently connecting the cities, and the development of a brand new airport in Phnom Penh.
The two countries pledged to greater than double the variety of Chinese tourists coming to Cambodia to 2 million in the subsequent two years and increase bilateral trade to $6 billion.
“We’ll try to stay here,” Doung Sokly said from behind her stroller. “We have to see how the situation develops.”
