This afternoon over at the provincial police headquarters, Preah Sihanouk police chief Chu Narin sat down with visiting senior official Li Yaoguang and his delegation from China's Jiangsu province. The two sides had a deep discussion behind closed doors on various cooperation matters. Outside, the midday heat was baking the streets and motorbikes buzzed past, but inside the station, the atmosphere was strictly business.
Truth is, Sihanoukville is home to all sorts of people from different Chinese provinces. As soon as word got out about the meeting, folks hanging around the local markets and the beach started putting two and two together. Especially anyone originally from Jiangsu with some old baggage hanging over their heads—they are probably staring at their tea right now with a lot of nervous butterflies in their stomachs.
Local media noted that this kind of cross-border exchange happens all the time. But for the rest of us sitting at the corner coffee shop sipping iced tea, it is just another ripple in the daily current. Life goes on as usual. It is just that the shadowy faces hanging around the streets are going to find life a whole lot harder from here on out.
