Cambodia: A Gambler's Heaven?

Chinese developers are in the midst of buying 130 square miles of national park in Cambodia to build a "city-sized $3.8 billion complex with a casino named after the fabled Angkor Wat," a dock for cruise ships, and an international airport. This development has already built a 40-mile road through the jungle which is inhabited by endangered tigers and elephants, and Cambodian people that have lived there for generations.

Many developers are attracted to Cambodia because their ability to lease the land for 198 years. High-net-worth individuals from Russia and France are also drawn to Cambodia because of its" permissive attitude toward money-laundering" and its"nine-year tax holidays."

This article highlights the weak position that Cambodia has in relation to other Asia countries, despite its growing economy. It is sad to see many Cambodians displaced because of corrupt individuals from China and other countries. I wonder if anything will be done to stop this massive casino complex from being built?

Katie Robinson

http://www.forbes.com/sites/donaldfrazier/2012/03/21/china-to-gamblers-come-to-cambodia/

Cambodian Stock Exchange

Trading on the Cambodian Stock Exchange will begin April 18 when "state-owned Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority has its initial public offering." Many citizens across multiple countries are enthusiastic about Cambodia's steps toward a capitalist economy. The director of the Securities and Exchanges Commission of Cambodia says as more companies are publicly traded, the Cambodian economy will grow faster and will stabilize. Though there is a lot of hype regarding the opening, some economists say the stock exchange will take a decade or more to mature.

Because China is such a major player in Asia, it is easy to assume that all the economies in surrounding areas are subject to totalitarian or communist rule. However, this article shows that it countries like Cambodia are making strides toward a freer economy.

Katie Robinson

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-22/cambodia-gets-ready-to-open-its-stock-exchange

Sea Clashes Loom Over Southeast Asia Summit (by James Hookway, March 29, 2012):

One of our destinations, Cambodia, holds a key position in the diplomatic struggle over one of the world's busiest stretches of water: the potentially energy-rich South China Sea.

The country this year is hosting a series of regional summits, in which, China's claims to the waters could become a large issue. China’s disputes with countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines have raised security fears in the region. China tried but failed to stop the South China Sea issue from being discussed at the last summit, said participants in that meeting, in Indonesia last year.  It is not yet known whether the topic will be on the agenda this year.

The U.S. has further angered China by saying it wants to keep the South China Sea, which carries around half the world's total trade, free and open to navigation. 

So Cambodia has the option to stand by China and not let the issue come up about China’s claim to sovereignty over the water.  Up to this point, Cambodia, has never claimed the South China Sea, and still maintains a neutral stance toward the contest for control of its waters.  This stretch of water is a matter of importance to pretty much all of the Southeast Asian Nations.  Trade, fishing and potential resources will all be matters of importance if it does get brought up in the meetings.

Countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines, are reaching out to the U.S. to counter China on this issue. We must remember that China has huge influence upon its beneficiaries like Cambodia; it would be hard to oppose such an influence. I’m sure China is hoping they remember this too.

~Chet Matsuura

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577308972320988892.html?KEYWORDS=cambodia

Asean Expects Region's Economies to Grow in 2012 (March 30, 2012):

Through this article, I was able to see a little better about what this ASEAN group does and who is involved: The 10-nation Asean group includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, it can be compared to the European Union. Officials from those countries often team up with representatives of China, Japan and Korea for economic discussion. At this years meeting, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia they began talks to strengthen the regional crisis fund and make it less reliant on the International Monetary Fund. It is predicted that the Southeast Asian region’s economies will expand more quickly this year in comparison to last year.  They estimated that the gross-domestic-product growth for the region, as a whole, between 5.6% and 6.3% for this year, compared with 4.5% in 2011. Steady increase is good.

Upcoming risks for this region include weak global demand, tight liquidity, rising oil prices and volatile capital flows, said finance ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.  This is similar to other regions of the world.

Originally, growth in the Southeast Asian region soared in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, only to cool off last year as the European debt crisis flared up, spooking investors.  They are looking forward to steady upwards progression now.

They look over trading, capital, and policies to figure out how to keep their economies as strong as possible, and I must say they have done a pretty good job collaborating this year.

 ~Chet Matsuura

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577313532275286436.html?KEYWORDS=thailand

Apple moves to share cost burden in China

Mr. Cook visits China’s assemble lines to view how things are going.  FLA argues that Mr. Cook should do more for the employees.  Improvements from varies countries are demanding that Apple provide a living wage for Chinese workers so they did not have to work excessive overtime, and reduce working hours to legal limits.  Mr. Cook went over to help sooth some of the problems that people are having.  While there, people argued more intensely that they should be paid more.  The last time that pay was raised, Apple took the cost.  What I liked from the article is that they do get paid well for china and last week there were 1000 people queuing up for interviews.

Robert Ostler

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/31/business/china-apple/index.html?hpt=ias_c2

Flying too close to the Sun?

Two extremely wealthy and prominent businessmen have been arrested on charges of fraud. The Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is saying very little about the case, but it has sparked a great deal of media interest considering that fact that it involves one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families. There has been an increased concern in Hong Kong about the relationship between its leaders and big businesses. They investigated one of the top officials because of his relationships with a certain business. This was one of the first actions ever taken against such a high ranked official. This article was interesting because we will be visiting some of the big businesses.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2012/03/hong-kong-tycoons-under-arrest

Sarah Bilton

Official: Attacks in Thai provinces linked

In the Songkhla and Yala provinces, located in Thailand, there have been two recent car bombings. The bombings killed about thirteen people and injured hundreds more. The government has increased security in these areas, and the southern province Muslims are most likely the ones in charge of the car bombings. Majority of the people in the southern provinces are Muslim. This causes a problem because majority of the country is Buddhist so the people in the southern province feel that the government doesn’t represent them. I found this interesting because I wonder if the violence will get worse before we get there.

Sarah Bilton
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/01/world/asia/thailand-attacks/index.html?hpt=wo_bn4