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Ton Pheung district

District in Bokeo province, Laos

Ton Pheung district ເມືອງຕົ້ນເຜິ້ງ
District
Location in Laos
Country	Laos
Province	Bokeo province
Population  (2015)[1]
• District	34,476
• Urban	15,023
Time zone	UTC+7 (ICT)

Ton Pheung is a district (muang) of Bokeo province in northwestern Laos.^[2] The district lies in northwest Laos and borders Tachileik districtofBurma and Chiang Saen district and Chiang Khong districtofChiang Rai province, Thailand. In addition, The district is the location of the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.

Given its location, the district has been the center of much conflict in the past. A dispute broke out in 1999 over Thai farmers cultivating on district lands and on 25 February 2008 an attack broke out on the Burmese border involving Burmese drug lords.^[3]

The district economy and also that of Bokeo Province is now dominated by the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GT SEZ) in Ton Pheung District.^[4] In 2007, Kings Romans Group, owned by well-connected Chinese husband and wife Zhao Wei and Su Guiqin, entered into a 99-year lease for 10,000 hectares on the banks of the Mekong.^[4] The company was granted 3,000 of these hectares as a duty-free zone, now the SEZ. As gambling is illegal in China, and the SEZ is only a two-hour journey by road from China, casinos and hotels catering to a Chinese clientele were built.^[5] A robust industry involving trafficking in endangered animals has grown up around the Chinese tourist trade.^[6] In January 2018, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against what it called Zhao's transnational criminal organisation, engaging in illicit activities, including human trafficking and child prostitution, drug trafficking and wildlife trafficking.^[4]

Bokeo International Airport, which serves international flights in Bokeo province, opened on February 5, 2024