> First it's was the whitemen that took everything from Laos....so the
> laotian fought a civil war to overthrow the invaders....at least our
> forefathers has succeeded in thier effort to send the whitemen
> home...Now come the chinese pouring in not just a few, but in the
> thousands into the HEART of LAOS where every Laotian has fought to
> perserve self-determination and the freedom to live like free human,
> all has been for nothing. Sadly, a few selfish thugs sold the people
> and the country for a mere "stadium" that serve no purpose to the
> majority poor, other than a few thugs. So the question is who's next
> to "screw" Laos?  I'm not envy of Laos and it's internal
> matters....but as a former Lao-Hmong....It's just so sad to know that
> this is the beginning of the end of a nation.
>
> jim
>
> On Apr 7, 8:52 pm, TshajK...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>

>> 'Chinatown' deal rankles Laotians
>> DARREN SCHUETTLER

>

>> In the eyes of Laos' communist rulers, trading Vientiane's biggest
>> wetland for a new sports stadium seemed like a good bargain. But the
>> handover of the That Luang marsh to a Chinese-led joint venture has
>> been the talk of this sleepy capital, fuelling rumours and resentment
>> of Beijing's growing influence over its impoverished, landlocked
>> neighbour.

>

>> More surprisingly, the discontent has forced the Lao government, one
>> of Asia's most secretive, to publicly explain the swap of a prime
>> piece of land for a new sports complex that will host the Southeast
>> Asian Games in 2009.

>

>> ''Many people are angry with the government,'' said Lin, whose home
>> sits near the marsh on the outskirts of the city of 460,000.

>

>> Rumours about a Chinese takeover of the 20sqkm wetland _ home to 20
>> species of fish, rice paddies and ringed by 17 villages _ began to
>> swirl last September. ''We heard that 4,500 families would come from
>> China. Many people were worried,'' he said of fears they would be
>> evicted. ''My feeling is, why do we have to give this land to China?
>> If we are not ready to host the SEA Games, why do we need it?''

>

>> Resource-hungry China is one of the biggest foreign investors in Laos,
>> which dropped central planning for market reforms in 1986, more than a
>> decade after the Pathet Lao seized power.

>

>> Beijing has poured money into rubber plantations, energy and
>> infrastructure projects in remote corners of the mountainous nation of
>> 5.8 million. An influx of newly-rich Chinese visitors has helped make
>> tourism a key source of foreign exchange.

>

>> But rumours of a Chinatown rising from the marsh located near the
>> Buddhist monument of That Luang, the country's national symbol, struck
>> many residents as too close to home.

>

>> In a bid to defuse the controversy, Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat
>> Lengsavad held a rare news conference in February where he denied
>> plans ''to bring 50,000 Chinese families to live in the area'',
>> according the Lao news agency KPL.

>

>> He confirmed a Chinese-Lao joint venture was given a 50-year
>> concession on 1,600 hectares of land in exchange for Beijing's
>> financing and construction of the sports complex, which includes two
>> indoor stadiums, swimming pools and tennis courts.

>

>> The joint venture, 95%% held by the Chinese, could sell industrial and
>> residential units to Lao and foreigners, but he insisted Chinese
>> buyers would get no special privileges.

>

>> Privately, government officials have warned foreigners about the
>> sensitivity of the marsh development.

>

>> ''The first thing they said was 'Don't call it Chinatown','', one NGO
>> worker said of a meeting with government officials.

>

>> Talk of a Chinese enclave has probably been overblown, analysts say,
>> but the government's rare PR campaign may also be aimed at internal
>> critics of the plan.

>

>> ''I think it's more likely due to some opposition coming from within
>> the party. They're not going to worry about the streets,'' said Martin
>> Stuart-Fox, a retired professor and expert on Laos. ''If one member of
>> the politburo cleared all this and the kickbacks were extensive to him
>> and his patronage network, others may not be happy. They can simply
>> use the China card and say this is not a good thing.''

>

>> Vientiane's mayor has said That Luang will be a model of good urban
>> and environmental planning that will vault his city into the ranks of
>> other regional capitals.

>

>> ''Many people have raised questions about whether the development of
>> the marsh could damage the environment, but in fact it has already
>> been polluted by local residents,'' Mayor Sinlavong Khoutphaythoune
>> said.

>

>> Human activity has shrunk the marsh over the years, but it still
>> provides valuable agricultural land, flood control and natural
>> treatment of city waste water.

>

>> A World Wildlife Fund study has valued the goods and services from the
>> marsh at nearly $5 million, of which 40%% directly benefited people in
>> the area. ''There are ways you could develop the area and keep many of
>> the wetlands services it provides,'' said Pauline Gerrard, adviser on
>> a project piloting the use of artificial wetlands to treat waste water
>> flowing into the marsh.

>

>> The government has said the concession area will include a 450-hectare
>> holding pond for flood control, but it's not clear how it would work
>> within the marsh.

>

>> Athorities have promised ''reasonable'' compensation for affected
>> residents. But that has sparked more rumours that any payments would
>> be a fraction of the value of the land, which some estimates put at
>> $120 a square metre. Complicating this is the fact that although
>> families have lived around the marsh for decades, many do not have
>> proper land certificates.

>

>> ''The government says bad people are spreading rumours, but we hear
>> nothing about what will happen to our land,'' one man said from his
>> two-room wooden home on the edge of the marsh. REUTERS- Hide quoted text -

>
> - Show quoted text -