China Urges Compliance After Deadly Bangkok Building Collapse

China’s embassy in Bangkok has called on Chinese companies operating abroad to comply with local laws after a Chinese construction firm came under scrutiny for a deadly building collapse during last week’s earthquake. The 30-storey skyscraper, intended to house government offices, was the only major building to collapse in Bangkok when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck neighboring Myanmar on Friday, with tremors felt as far as the Thai capital.

Thai authorities have launched an investigation into the construction firms responsible, amid suspicions that substandard steel rebar was used in the structure. The development, located near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, was a joint project involving China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group (Thailand), an offshoot of China Railway Group (CREC), one of the world’s largest construction and engineering contractors. AFP was unable to reach the Chinese company involved for comment.

The Chinese embassy in Bangkok expressed its “deepest condolences” for the collapse in a Facebook post on Tuesday, written only in Thai. It urged Chinese firms to “strictly” comply with Thai laws, stating that the Chinese government has consistently required companies operating overseas to abide by local regulations and contribute positively to society.

Beijing has dispatched a team of rescue experts and disaster relief personnel to assist in Bangkok and has vowed to “continue supporting Thailand as needed.” It has also urged Chinese firms to cooperate “strictly” with Thai authorities in their investigation into the collapse.

The local partner in the project, Italian-Thai Development (ITD), offered condolences on Monday to the victims of the earthquake. However, the company stated that it was “confident” the incident would not impact its other projects.

The collapse was the deadliest single incident in Thailand resulting from the earthquake. The majority of the kingdom’s 22 fatalities are believed to have been workers on the building site at the time of the disaster.