RAYONG (Thailand): Everywhere you look on Thailand’s Amata industrial estate in Rayong you see signs in Chinese. It’s a similar story just along the coast in the tourist resort of Pattaya, where Mandarin is increasingly visible alongside English and Russian.
As China’s economy slows, its investors are looking abroad for growth and Thailand, home to one of the world’s largest ethnic Chinese minorities and a gateway to South-East Asia’s 600 million consumers, is a hot investment destination in everything from industry to condominiums.