Prachinburi Removes Chinese-Language Signs Amid EEC Opposition

Prachinburi Highways Department officers remove advertising signs written almost entirely in Chinese from the roadside of Suwinthawong Road (Kabin Buri - Sri Maha Pho) in Prachinburi Province on May 24, 2025.

PRACHINBURIThe Prachinburi Provincial Highways Department has removed Chinese-language advertising signs recruiting foreign workers amid growing opposition to the province joining the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

Locals in Prachinburi Province encountered large advertising billboards written almost entirely in Chinese, except for the company name “The First Good Man Group Company – Foreign Worker Recruitment Services.” The signs, complete with contact phone numbers, were installed along Suwintawong Road (Kabinburi-Sri Maha Pho) near the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate in Lat Takian Subdistrict, Kabinburi District, amid opposition from some Prachinburi residents who oppose the province joining the EEC.

On May 24, Deputy Governor Chanatip Kokmanee ordered the Prachinburi Highways Department to remove the signs from three installation points. Officials are currently investigating whether the signs were legally installed under labor laws and are uncertain when they were erected, though they know the signs were recently placed at all three roadside locations, causing local dissatisfaction.

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Prachinburi Highways Department officers remove advertising signs written almost entirely in Chinese from the roadside of Suwinthawong Road (Kabin Buri – Sri Maha Pho) in Prachinburi Province on May 24, 2025.

Previously, Prachinburi civil society groups submitted objection letters to Kabinburi District Office and the Provincial Hall. Most recently, they gathered to make statements in front of the Provincial Hall and online through Facebook pages, expressing their opposition to proposals making Prachinburi part of the EEC, rejecting Chinese investment, and demanding an end to focus group meetings for the consulting project on EEC expansion policy recommendations until a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) with public participation is conducted.

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This citizen group fears that EEC development will impact natural resources in their famous agricultural province known for rice fields, orchards, and herbs, causing river and canal pollution from industrial waste, with Thai people receiving no benefits from factories lacking Thai workers.

 

This comes after discovering that industrial estates in Kabinburi and Sri Maha Pho districts are filled with Chinese factories, along with extensive land purchases from Thai landowners.

The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is one of the main policies of the military government led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power from the civilian government in 2014.

The EEC Act 2018 was one of the laws enacted during the military government era, while using special powers under Article 44 to unlock all restrictions that prevented projects from moving forward.

The EEC Act centralizes decision-making authority regarding approvals, permits, rights granting, or concessions for investors in various sectors under a newly established Policy Committee and Secretary-General, including exemptions from urban planning law enforcement. It has been criticized as a law that creates “state within a state” powers or grants extraterritorial rights.

Under the EEC Act, industrial areas established within the special economic zone provide various “special privileges” to investors, such as rights for foreigners to own land or real estate, rights to receive tax exemptions or reductions, and rights to conduct financial transactions

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