(LA) The threatened wildlife of Laos

[Guest guest]

China in Laos: Counting the cost of progress

By Daniel Allen

 

BEIJING - At Kunming's long-distance bus station, a sleeper bus crammed with

Chinese laborers edges toward the exit, en-route to the Laotian capital of

Vientiane. Despite the prospect of an uncomfortable 40-hour journey ahead,

this group of wiry, chain-smoking men is buoyed by the expectation of a

reasonable salary and a chance to take China's economic miracle southward.

" Laos is poor and dirty, " says one. " But we have many friends there already.

We can make money and help make Laos more like China. "

 

The resource-rich Golden Triangle area of northern Laos, Thailand and

Myanmar is no stranger to Chinese influence. Just as the Chin Haw - Han and

Hui Chinese from Yunnan province - first arrived in Laos in the 19th century

looking to get fat off the land, so a new wave of migrants from Yunnan and

further afield is now making a beeline for the same region, looking to take

advantage of opportunities thrown up by modern China's long and powerful

economic arm.

 

China's role in the development of *northern* Laos has become increasingly

marked in recent years. A cooperation agreement signed in 1997 signaled a

break from the hostility of the 1980s, when Laos allied with China's then

adversary Vietnam. By 2007, *China* was responsible for nearly 40% of

investment projects in Laos, and, according to the Laotian *government*,

Chinese *direct investment* totaled over US$1.1 billion by the end of August

that year.

 

Indeed, through official aid, state investment and a growing number of

private ventures, China now dominates a large part of the Laotian economy.

From mining and hydropower to *rubber*, retail and hospitality, the Chinese

generally have a *controlling interest* in almost every economic sector.

Trade between Laos and China was valued at about $250 million in 2007, and

is expected to reach $1 billion over the next few years.

 

Last year, the government of Yunnan completed a blueprint - widely known as

the " Northern Plan " - to develop the industrial sectors of northern Laos

from now until 2020. This was handed over to the Laotian government in

January, and is expected to be ratified at the Laotian 9th Party Congress in

2010. Setting specific targets for the " backbone industries " of power,

*agriculture

and forestry*, tourism and mining, the Northern Plan " intends to develop a

highly focused and executable roadmap for industrialization " .

 

While *growing* Chinese influence undoubtedly benefits some, as evidenced by

the row of luxury SUVs sitting at the China-Laos border, many Laotians,

expats and international observers are deeply concerned about its social and

environmental impact. Many of these concerns center on the newly completed

Kunming-Bangkok Route 3 highway, part of which runs through northern Laos

(built with Chinese and Thai money), and the rash of new towns, settlements

and business ventures this road is now spawning.

 

Sitting on the Chinese border next to Route 3, the Laotian town of Boten was

designated a special economic zone in 2002. Renamed " Boten Golden City " , the

21 square kilometers on which the town sits is now effectively part of

China, having been leased for 30 years by a Chinese company, with an option

to extend this lease by another 60 years. Vaunted as the " most

internationally modernized city in Laos " , plans for Boten include a golf

course, a convention center, residential real-estate projects and even an

international airport.

 

Dominating the landscape of Boten is the incongruous and unsightly 271-room

Royal Jinlun *hotel and casino* complex, which rears above a sprawling

concrete plaza of Chinese restaurants, cell-phone outlets, duty free shops

and stalls selling cheap Chinese products. The casino is a collection of

gaming operators that rent rooms in the back of the hotel and cater to a

growing number of international visitors - it's illegal for Laotians to

gamble, but Chinese can simply walk across the border without a visa.

 

While Boten has created some jobs for local people, these are largely

menial. The town works on Beijing time, accepts only *Chinese currency* and

speaks only Mandarin Chinese. Electricity and telephone lines run from

China, and electric sockets adhere to Chinese standards. The growing numbers

of prostitutes that patrol the streets are all Chinese, as are the beer and

the cigarettes.

 

Apart from the less-than-desirable appearance of Boten Golden City - most

foreign visitors traveling into Laos from China describe the place as an

eyesore (or worse) - it has also generated a host of grievances from local

people. To make way for the special economic zone, inhabitants of the old

town of Boten had to be relocated 20 kilometers down the road, where many

have complained of a lack of services and poorer-quality land. Others have

objected to land grabs adjacent to the new highway by well-connected traders

and businessmen.

 

An increase in Chinese-owned Lao-based concessions (another Chinese-financed

casino is going up in Huay Xai), the growing influx of Chinese immigrants

and the developing regional road network have also combined to drive up the

trade in Laotian biodiversity, much of which is now endangered.

 

Passing through Boten, many travelers will spot cramped cages containing

monkeys, black bears and other rare species blatantly displayed beside the

road, ready for purchase and cross-border transport into China. " This is

surely not the image that the Laotian government wants foreigners to see

first when they cross the border, " said one shocked American tourist.

 

With its booming economy, China is now the world's largest and

fastest-growing market for wildlife. Rising incomes in China are stimulating

demand for a wide range of Laotian species, both for consumption and use in

*traditional Chinese medicine*.

 

This has pushed prices to the level where many animals have become " too

expensive to eat " for local villagers; instead, dead and living wildlife is

hawked to traders for eventual resale on the Chinese market. In China, the

remains of a rare Laotian tiger may sell for more than $70,000.

 

" The escalating illegal wildlife trade in Southeast Asia is driven by

increasing affluence, and therefore especially by demand from China, " said

Dr Richard Thomas of Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network. " Boten in

particular may be a hotspot for smuggled wildlife as it is the main trade

crossing between Laos and China, and endangered species have frequently been

observed there. "

 

Beyond Boten, the defaunation of Laos is particularly bad along Route 3,

with the new highway driving widespread deforestation and wildlife poaching.

Vast tracts of forest along the road have been logged for timber and

converted for teak or rubber plantations, while hillsides have been burned

for sticky rice cultivation. Most of the money for these activities comes

from Chinese business owners who not only provide finance, but also sell

snares and traps and place orders for fresh wildlife, guaranteeing a market

for local hunters and smugglers.

 

Although the first rubber plantations in northern Laos were planted as

recently as 1994, Chinese investment has accelerated coverage dramatically.

China is projected to consume 30% of the world's rubber production by 2020,

and is relying on plantations outside its borders to make up the shortfall

from domestic production, which could be over 7 million tons.

 

In northern Laos, Chinese companies generally establish large-scale

plantations through massive investments. These companies sign contracts

directly with the Laotian government first, arranging the on-the-ground set

up with local villagers later on, and then employing them on

subsistence-level salaries.

 

This process for allocating land for rubber plantations remains open to

serious abuse. Reports from some government staff and Laotian villagers show

that Chinese companies are in effect allowed to allocate themselves land by

putting local government officials on the company payroll. Stories of

manipulation, exaggeration of benefits and forced coercion of villages to

give up land are rife. Although the Laotian government announced a ban on

granting land concessions in 2007, this has generally proved ineffective, as

it is either ignored by local officials or bypassed via gaping loopholes.

 

A recent report in the journal Science has warned of the " devastating

effect " that increasing the coverage of rubber plantations in Laos and other

Southeast Asian countries could have, citing significant reductions in

carbon biomass, *desiccation* of water sources, increased risk of erosion

and landslides, and consequent loss and degradation of habitat. As the

Yunnan government's Northern Plan calls for an increase in Laotian rubber

plantation coverage to 150,000 hectares by 2020, not to mention more than

100,000 hectares for biofuel plantations and a step up in mining projects,

the prospects for the area's rapidly dwindling biodiversity look poor at

best.

 

A voracious appetite for Laotian natural resources, coupled with the

availability of cheap Chinese products and the willingness of the Chinese

government to provide aid without asking questions, will undoubtedly see

China play an even greater role in Laos over the coming decades. With

Chinese companies continuing to step up investment and an increasing flow of

southward-bound Chinese migrants, the need for a comprehensive and

watertight system of regulation is both clear and crucial.

 

The Laotian government is already taking some steps to prevent Laotian

people from being exploited and to protect biodiversity. " The highest level

of government does take illegal wildlife trade seriously, " explains Bouphanh

Phanhthavong of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. " The national

poverty reduction plan clearly states that environment protection is one of

three pillars to reducing poverty. The other two are economic growth and

socio-cultural development. If the natural resource base is depleted or

destroyed, local people's livelihoods will also suffer and ultimately cause

more poverty. "

 

Despite the apparent desire of the Laotian government to promote sustainable

development, however, it's obvious that some Chinese companies and

individuals are going to require a large measure of control from Beijing.

 

The Chinese government's " Guidelines for Environmental Conduct Overseas " are

expected to be issued soon by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and

other offices responsible for the management of overseas investment, aid and

loans. These should help to improve the environmental impact of China's

financial policies and regulate Chinese companies' environmental conduct

overseas.

*

Daniel Allen is a freelance writer and photographer currently living in

Beijing. He regularly travels to Laos and other south-east Asian countries.*

 

(Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online