by Guest9999 » Mon May 24, 2021 9:53 am
The world is aging fast and so old folks, especially Chinese, will very soon be Cambodia's largest growth market. I have no inside knowledge about what the huge Koh Kong airport and port were designed for, but I can safely guess what they will be primarily used for: a mega Chinese retirement resort. A huge, pleasant, fully Chinese enclave is possible in Cambodia in a way it really isn't anywhere else in the region. (Sri Lanka? Haven't been, don't know, but maybe a bit far from Central China. Burma? We'll see soon enough. Still a 'maybe'.)
Eight to ten years out, I'd say this is a sure thing. Healthcare, solvable, legal, policing, surveillance, moving that way, culture conflicts, well, they won't let Muslim Chinese retire there (and as if they would let Cambodians trouble them.)
"Learn Chinese!" has been a mantra for many, worldwide, for quite a while. One that even with moon and Mars landings etc., etc., might be partly wrong and not merely a bit premature. However, here in Cambodia, 2022 to 2040 anyway, I wouldn't bet against it.
Cambodia surprises me in good and bad ways often, so I don't know this will be bad for the country. But, it sure will be a different place in 2035. (By then China's population is projected to be falling very fast -falling by over 600 million at 2100 the NYTimes just said - but old Chinese and young Khmer...)
What the Cambodian Government can do, is be strict from the start (well, starting near now)about foreign worker quotas, ensuring, to take a single sector as example, that mainland Chinese Health providers train Chinese speaking Cambodians to take over from them. If Cambodia's elite get richer from these changes, OK, but they can, and should, ensure the wealth gets spread around as much as possible.
Will they?How do you see this panning out?
The world is aging fast and so old folks, especially Chinese, will very soon be Cambodia's largest growth market. I have no inside knowledge about what the huge Koh Kong airport and port were designed for, but I can safely guess what they will be primarily used for: a mega Chinese retirement resort. A huge, pleasant, fully Chinese enclave is possible in Cambodia in a way it really isn't anywhere else in the region. (Sri Lanka? Haven't been, don't know, but maybe a bit far from Central China. Burma? We'll see soon enough. Still a 'maybe'.)
Eight to ten years out, I'd say this is a sure thing. Healthcare, solvable, legal, policing, surveillance, moving that way, culture conflicts, well, they won't let Muslim Chinese retire there (and as if they would let Cambodians trouble them.)
"Learn Chinese!" has been a mantra for many, worldwide, for quite a while. One that even with moon and Mars landings etc., etc., might be partly wrong and not merely a bit premature. However, here in Cambodia, 2022 to 2040 anyway, I wouldn't bet against it.
Cambodia surprises me in good and bad ways often, so I don't know this will be bad for the country. But, it sure will be a different place in 2035. (By then China's population is projected to be falling very fast -falling by over 600 million at 2100 the NYTimes just said - but old Chinese and young Khmer...)
What the Cambodian Government can do, is be strict from the start (well, starting near now)about foreign worker quotas, ensuring, to take a single sector as example, that mainland Chinese Health providers train Chinese speaking Cambodians to take over from them. If Cambodia's elite get richer from these changes, OK, but they can, and should, ensure the wealth gets spread around as much as possible.
Will they?How do you see this panning out?