BANGKOK -- Flexing its economic might in impoverished Laos, China has hit a snag on the religious front, provoking anti-Chinese anger over a gigantic statue of Buddha that a Shanghai company plans to build in Vientiane.
Social media posts have crackled with criticism against Wan Feng Shanghai Real Estate Co.'s plan to build a towering 100-meter-tall Buddha statue as a tourist attraction in a special economic zone in Vientiane, the Laotian capital on the banks of the Mekong River. If the company goes ahead, the structure will be the tallest in Vientiane.
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