News Forum - Bangkok governor orders strict checks on Chinese-backed businesses after viral TikTok backlash

[Thaiger]

In light of a viral TikTok video featuring a Chinese expat’s perspective on life in Thailand, Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt issued an instruction for the Huai Khwang district chief to stringently impose laws on Chinese-backed businesses. This decision occurred yesterday and was instigated by a filmed review of Thailand’s day-to-day life from a non-Thai-speaking Chinese … …

The story Bangkok governor orders strict checks on Chinese-backed businesses after viral TikTok backlash as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Leo]

I live in the area, yes, I'd say about 80%-90% of the foreigners here are Chinese. This area has been the "true" Chinatown of Bangkok for at least the past 10-12 years though. But here's the thing. While in the past you'd see the throngs of middle-aged tourists and their buses outside the hotels and shopping malls, now the vast majority are young people 20-30 yo., a lot of them young men in groups of 3-4. At the same time of course, youth unemployment is raging in China and getting worse by the month.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Leo

[HolyCowCm]

1 hour ago, Leo said:

I live in the area, yes, I'd say about 80%-90% of the foreigners here are Chinese. This area has been the "true" Chinatown of Bangkok for at least the past 10-12 years though. But here's the thing. While in the past you'd see the throngs of middle-aged tourists and their buses outside the hotels and shopping malls, now the vast majority are young people 20-30 yo., a lot of them young men in groups of 3-4. At the same time of course, youth unemployment is raging in China and getting worse by the month.

So is this a good thing or a bad thing having just say the majority at 85% of all foreingers being Chinese? And how many as a guestimate are we actually talking about in a direct area of say 3km by 3km compared the the number of Thai? There are sporadic areas in Bangkok that have taken over by middle east, India etc. I think the big question is in this instance are the Chinese funded business completely over shadowing the Thai businesses in the area making it a not level playing field which is or can be devastational to the old time businesss originally in the area. But also by Thai law every business still has to have Thai workers involved, and is this being side stepped?

 

[Leo]

12 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

So is this a good thing or a bad thing having just say the majority at 85% of all foreingers being Chinese? And how many as a guestimate are we actually talking about in a direct area of say 3km by 3km compared the the number of Thai? There are sporadic areas in Bangkok that have taken over by middle east, India etc. I think the big question is in this instance are the Chinese funded business completely over shadowing the Thai businesses in the area making it a not level playing field which is or can be devastational to the old time businesss originally in the area. But also by Thai law every business still has to have Thai workers involved, and is this being side stepped?

The Thai registered population in Huai Khwang is about 80-100K. Of course it's difficult to estimate the number of new Chinese arrivals. But you can actually hear Chinese spoken every few seconds on the sidewalks, shopping centers etc. Reports are that half of all these condominiums on Ratchadapisek are rented by Chinese, which one can find out just by standing at the entrance of one for 10-15 minutes and start counting. At a Big C just a few days ago, literally half the people there were Chinese, with some buying home supplies for a week, i.e. not something a tourist would do.

I don't frequent the Chinese businesses, so I cannot comment on the ratio of Thai/Chinese you are alluding to, but the Chinese will frequent places where staff speak Chinese a lot more than places that don't have such staff.

As you can imagine, my point was that many of these arrivals since January are not tourists. The economic, let alone political, situation in China is dire.

 

[Thaidup]

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