Cambodia rejects China Town plan

Cambodia rejects China Town plan

PHNOM PENH (Reuter): Cambodia's government has rejected a
proposal to create a unique China Town, fearing massive
immigration from Hong Kong, the Phnom Penh Post reported.

The cabinet, at a meeting in July, finally shot down plans to
set up a city of 200,000 Chinese immigrants on a 20-sq km (7.70
sq mile) plot of land just outside the capital, the fortnightly
Post said in its latest edition.

"The scheme would have effectively created the fourth biggest
city in Cambodia and some Cambodian official supporters say it
was designed to replace Phnom Penh as the commercial capital,"
the paper said, while adding that the proposal was not yet dead.

"More subtle revised versions of the bold initiative may be
submitted for approval, which include promises of large scale
investment in return for rights of immigration of overseas
Chinese."

The Cambodia-China City Company, set up by an affiliate of the
China Non-Ferrous Metal Company of Beijing -- managed by the son-
in-law of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping -- proposed investing one
billion dollars to develop the city in Kandal.

In return, it wanted use of the land for 70 years, immigration
rights for 200,000 Chinese and for representatives of the Beijing
company to hold the political post of deputy governor of the
city.

The Post, quoting government sources and documents of the
Cambodia-China City Company, said the idea had the backing of the
National Investment Committee, the office of the Council of
Ministers and the governor of Kandal province.

But the deputy head of the Cambodia Development Council, which
oversees investment policy, warned the plan was "not a mere
ordinary investment problem but rather a national political issue
because it involves 200,000 immigrants".

Keat Chhon, who is also Minister of State for Reconstruction
and Development, said in a June 28 message to First Prime
Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh "it may become a foreign city
in the middle of Cambodia", the Post reported.

The Council of Ministers, headed by Ranariddh and co-premier
Hun Sen, rejected the proposal.

The Post quoted a government supporter of the project as
saying the idea would not rehabilitate Phnom Penh but would
"create a new Phnom Penh -- a new Hong Kong in Cambodia".

The Post said the project was aimed above all at luring Hong
Kong Chinese fearful of their future after Hong Kong reverts to
Chinese control from Britain in mid-1997.

Ethnic Chinese already play a key role in the economy and
advocates of the scheme felt it would help spur development
throughout the poverty-stricken and war-devastated country.