Laos typically welcomes help from China.
About 23% of the landlocked Southeast Asian country’s 6.8 million people live in poverty.
Varied sources of aid and investment would put Laos, with a GDP of just 12 billion, in a league of other relatively poor Southeast Asian countries.
Rural infrastructure lags behind most of its neighbors.
So the Lao government supports growing investment from China as part of the “Belt and Road” program, a 4-year-old effort to extend the giant country’s trade and infrastructure network across Asia into Europe.
A bellwether 414-kilometer China-Laos railway that broke ground in December is one of the “most important” projects in the Lao government’s economic development plan through 2020, Chinese official Xinhua News Agency said in a report this week.
Laos and China are both communist.
Laos and China are both communist.
They share a land border.
No wonder Laos, with a GDP of just $12 billion, sometimes gets described as a client state of the world’s second-largest economy.
But China is not the biggest foreign investor in Laos, by some measures, and pockets of resistance are emerging to the quick surge in Chinese projects.
Vietnam led other countries in 2015 in value of approved projects.
Vietnam led other countries in 2015 in value of approved projects.
Vietnamese firms parked more than $466 million that year, followed by Malaysia with projects worth about $430 million, according to Lao government statistics.
Vietnam invested largely in farming, energy and natural resources, spawning 40,000 jobs, this Vietnamese news report says.
Malaysian investment since 2000 has gone toward finance, insurance, construction and tourism. China ranked third in 2015 at about $89 million on the same list.
Singapore is now a rising star investor.
Singapore is now a rising star investor.
The total 70 Singaporean-funded projects in Laos cover industry, property and farming, the Singapore Business Federation says.
Total capitalized investment of $175 million makes Singapore the 11th biggest foreign investor by volume.
This photo taken in 2011 shows a woman working in front of her home inside Bopiat village in the Northern province of Louang Namtha where Chinese workers were doing soil analyses in preparation for a railway linking China to Laos.
This photo taken in 2011 shows a woman working in front of her home inside Bopiat village in the Northern province of Louang Namtha where Chinese workers were doing soil analyses in preparation for a railway linking China to Laos.
Varied sources of aid and investment would put Laos, with a GDP of just 12 billion, in a league of other relatively poor Southeast Asian countries.
At the same time they welcome investment from Japan, elsewhere in Southeast Asia and Western countries partly to keep Chinese influence in check.
Beijing might tap too many natural resources, edge out domestic companies or seek political cooperation that the other country isn’t ready to offer.
China is promoting the “Belt and Road” initiative to give its companies space to expand outside a big but constrained domestic market while bolstering its geopolitical clout against old rival Japan.
“Although Sino-Laos relations have been relatively smooth and economic cooperation is on the rise, Laos is not completely subordinate to China,” says Yun Sun, senior associate with the East Asia Program under Washington-based think tank the Stimson Center.
China is promoting the “Belt and Road” initiative to give its companies space to expand outside a big but constrained domestic market while bolstering its geopolitical clout against old rival Japan.
“Although Sino-Laos relations have been relatively smooth and economic cooperation is on the rise, Laos is not completely subordinate to China,” says Yun Sun, senior associate with the East Asia Program under Washington-based think tank the Stimson Center.
“Vietnam also has major influence in Laos, and the Laos government has not been completely acquiescent to Chinese views and projects.”
Chinese enterprises sometimes spar with “local authorities and residents” over land use and threats of environmental degradation, the Shanghai Institute for International Studies says in a 2016 paper. People believe Chinese companies and Chinese employees cause degradation associated with investments such as hydro-power plants, the paper says.
Chinese enterprises sometimes spar with “local authorities and residents” over land use and threats of environmental degradation, the Shanghai Institute for International Studies says in a 2016 paper. People believe Chinese companies and Chinese employees cause degradation associated with investments such as hydro-power plants, the paper says.
“The strict control and management of land use imposes a hard constraint on Chinese companies,” it adds.
Laos, if it lets China invest too heavily, risks giving up potential jobs to Chinese workers as well, Sun adds.
The railway line that may shape up as a test case for Laos' acceptance of Chinese investment.
Laos, if it lets China invest too heavily, risks giving up potential jobs to Chinese workers as well, Sun adds.
The railway line that may shape up as a test case for Laos' acceptance of Chinese investment.
It’s unclear how the $5.8 billion project will help Laos because it depends just lightly on trade, analysts say.
A Lao official told Xinhua it should help farm production, cut travel costs, create jobs and attract more foreign investment.
But it may offer few jobs while causing “environmental degradation, land confiscation, and forced relocation,” says Andrea Giorgetta, Asia desk director with the International Federation for Human Rights in Bangkok.
But it may offer few jobs while causing “environmental degradation, land confiscation, and forced relocation,” says Andrea Giorgetta, Asia desk director with the International Federation for Human Rights in Bangkok.
“Many communities have already had their land confiscated without receiving any compensation,” Giorgetta says.
Conversely, she says, “the strategic importance of Laos for China is massive, as the country is crucial to give Beijing access to Southeast Asia's markets, natural resources, and infrastructure.”
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire