[Tlc] L-Chinatown

[justinm at ucr.edu]

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justin



2008-0212 - DPA - Laos denies 'Chinatown' rumours

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/185184,laos-denies-chinatown-rumours.html

The Earthtimes


Laos denies 'Chinatown' rumours
Posted : Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:22:05 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Asia (World)

Bangkok - The Lao government has denied rumours that a huge
property development project on the outskirts of Vientiane
will become a sprawling Chinatown, home to 50,000 Chinese
families, government sources said Tuesday.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad held a press
conference Monday in the capital to deny persistent reports
that the That Luang property project, on the eastern outskirts
of the capital, was being developed to accommodate an massive
influx of Chinese immigrants into the landlocked communist
country.

"There have been a lot of false rumours about this project,"
said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy. "They are
calling it a Chinatown. It is not a Chinatown," Yong said in a
telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Somsavat, a former foreign minister and one of the few Lao
leaders who can speak Mandarin, called the press conference to
clarify the status of That Luang marsh development project
which is being jointly developed by a Lao company and its
Chinese partner.

"The partnership will develop the marsh and hand it over to
the Lao government when the joint venture agreement comes to
an end," Somsavat was quoted in the Vientiane Times.

He explained that the joint venture had been granted a
concession to develop a "new township and industrial zone" in
the Vientiane suburb as a means of repaying the Chinese
government for financing the construction of a new sports
stadium for Vientiane to host the South-East Asia Games next year.

The concession allows the joint venture to sell residential
and industrial units to both Lao nationals and foreigners,
including Chinese citizens.

The contract lasts for 50 years, after which it may be
extended, said Somsavat. The township-cum-industrial estate
will reportedly cover 1,600 hectares, 600 hectares of which
will be turned into a water park.

"The labour will be recruited here, in Laos, and if necessary
the company will hire some technicians from China," said Yong,
who also denied rumours that many of the thousands of Chinese
labourers brought in to build the sports stadium had remained
in Laos.

Laos, half the size of France, has a population of less than 6
million people. It is surrounded by bigger, more populous
neighbours including China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and
Myanmar.

Laos had close ties with the Soviet bloc, especially Vietnam,
between 1975 to 1988, but had gradually improved its relations
with China after the collapse of the Soviet Union and
termination of aid from the former communist superpower.

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______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu