"Rights Official Voices Concerns Over Housing Construction ‘For Chinese’ in Cambodian SEZ", 27 September 2019

A human rights official in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province has expressed concerns over new apartment blocks he says are being built specifically for Chinese nationals, amid reports of the migrants committing criminal activities in other parts of the country.

The apartments are being built in and around the Cham Yeam Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Koh Kong’s Mondul Seima district by ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) lawmaker and casino tycoon Ly Yong Phat’s LYP Group, provincial spokesperson Sok Sothy said recently, adding that they will be used to house workers from joint ventures with “foreign companies.”

Hour In, a coordinator for local rights group Licadho in Koh Kong province, told … he expects that the new apartments will attract large numbers of Chinese nationals once they are completed, and that the new migrants will “bring insecurity and crime” to the area.

He noted that Chinese investment has flowed into neighboring Preah Sihanouk province in recent years, but Cambodians regularly chafe at what they say are unscrupulous business practices and unbecoming behavior by Chinese residents.

… Hour In told … that during recent visits to Cham Yeam he had seen new buildings in the SEZ “leased to Chinese,” as well as Chinese restaurants and other services—including karaoke parlors and prostitution dens—marketed towards Chinese nationals…

Provincial spokesperson Sok Sothy told … there are “many structures under construction” in and around the SEZ, and that they are not exclusively for rent to Chinese nationals…