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.