So the success story here is:
> [..] the yuan is now its main currency of trade.
1. They lost their own currency.
> [..] it is also increasingly populated by many from across the border hoping to benefit [..]
2. The 'investment' into the local area is actually being used to employ imported Chinese workers.
> Jua, a 24-year-old truck driver, feels he has been "kept alive" by China. He is paid in yuan every month by a Chinese cargo owner.
3. Local businesses are being purchased or replaced with Chinese owners.
When they fail to pay back some loans [0], they will be forced to hand over large strategic areas, such as their mining lands [1] on a 99 year lease. Over the next 10 years we will likely see the erosion of Laos sovereignty.
[0] https://www.voanews.com/a/laos-faces-debt-crisis-after-borro...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laos_Product_Exports_(201...
> [..] the yuan is now its main currency of trade.
1. They lost their own currency.
> [..] it is also increasingly populated by many from across the border hoping to benefit [..]
2. The 'investment' into the local area is actually being used to employ imported Chinese workers.
> Jua, a 24-year-old truck driver, feels he has been "kept alive" by China. He is paid in yuan every month by a Chinese cargo owner.
3. Local businesses are being purchased or replaced with Chinese owners.
When they fail to pay back some loans [0], they will be forced to hand over large strategic areas, such as their mining lands [1] on a 99 year lease. Over the next 10 years we will likely see the erosion of Laos sovereignty.
[0] https://www.voanews.com/a/laos-faces-debt-crisis-after-borro...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laos_Product_Exports_(201...