Cambodia island woos Chinese investors

[PHNOM PENH] There is an island in Cambodia that, unlike others in South-east Asia, is not the object of an ownership dispute. But it is equally clear whom its current owners would like to land there: Chinese property buyers.

If all goes according to plan, Koh Pich (Diamond Island) - a 100-ha spit of land hugging downtown Phnom Penh's shoreline - will be home to more than 1,000 condominiums, hundreds of villas, two international schools, a replica of the Arc de Triomphe, a near-clone of Singapore's Marina Bay Sands Hotel and one of the world's tallest buildings.

But in a city with a history of stalled real estate projects, the future of the island, in the Mekong River, is far from certain.