Virus a fresh blow to China-dependent Sihanoukville
The influx of Chinese that some Cambodians resented for bringing noise, dust and chaos to Sihanoukville has become the cause of more pain now that it has gone into reverse.
Growing alarm about the coronavirus has meant yet another setback after the government last year banned online gambling, which had helped fuel the spectacular growth of a once listless port city into a major Chinese population centre.
“Now things are calm and in order, unlike before, but it is bad for businesses like mine,” said tuk-tuk driver Kwan Samhay, 55, as he cruised the streets looking for passengers. “There are no Chinese tourists riding on my tuk-tuk anymore.”
More than any city in Southeast Asia, Sihanoukville exemplified China’s growing regional presence and the complexity of economic, political and personal ties that have sprung up.
Touted on the one hand as an important port and industrial centre for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the biggest driving force for Chinese investment had been into casinos — and most of all into online gambling.
That stopped last year, when Prime Minister Hun Sen banned the online casinos under pressure from Beijing — driving out tens of thousands of Chinese who had moved to the city. Before that an estimated 80,000 Chinese lived in Sihanoukville, roughly on par with the local population.
Sihanoukville’s remaining casinos continued to draw a steady stream of Chinese customers and real estate developments brought investors looking for an exotic opportunity.
But that has almost stopped now that travellers are unable to leave China because of restrictions over the Covid-19 epidemic that has killed hundreds, mostly in China.
Sihanoukville has had its own virus scare — recording the only case in Cambodia, but also hosting the cruise ship MS Westerdam from which one passenger tested positive for the virus.
Across the city, where provincial authorities reported in mid-2019 that more than 90% of businesses were Chinese-owned, Chinese characters are peeling from the windows of abandoned restaurants, supermarkets and hairdressers.
Casinos that relied entirely on online gambling are shuttered. Block after block of 12-storey buildings stand empty but for the desks where online casino workers used to contact customers across China.
Local authorities say at least 7,000 Cambodians have lost their jobs since the online gambling ban took effect last August.
For some in the Chinese business community, the ban is a good thing and does not spell the end of investment in the city, which also hosts a Chinese-run industrial zone.
“Offline casinos will continue to operate, but because of the flow of people, business is temporarily bad,” said Zheng Longming, who has worked in Cambodia for 12 years.
“Sihanoukville cannot rely on online gambling to increase GDP or fiscal revenue … so I think this change is positive.”
The departure of so many people has reduced the strain on the city as authorities try to pave roads and fit sewer systems that had been overwhelmed by the new arrivals.
While work has stopped on many buildings and idle cranes rise from half-built shells, elsewhere the construction continues.
For Kwan Samhay, the return of the Chinese cannot come soon enough. The grandfather who has been driving a tuk-tuk for 25 years used to get at least 10 customers a day, bringing in as much as US$80. Now he scrapes by.
“I want the Chinese and other foreigners to come back so that it is good for my earnings,” he said. “If they do not come then we will face a crisis.”