Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Conference in Burma: China strengthens its influence

The Mekong near the border between Laos and Thailand, in the Thai province of Chiang Rai north of Bangkok.

Reuters/Chaiwat Subprasom

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In Burma, this Monday morning, July 4, opens the conference on cooperation on the Mekong-Lancang, which brings together the foreign ministers of six countries: China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, to discuss the future of the region's most important river.

An opportunity for China to establish its power of influence.

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With our regional correspondent,

Carol Isoux

The six ministers meet in the historic city of Bagan, in the central region of Burma, to discuss the future of the Mekong-Lancang, the Chinese name of the river, whose biodiversity has been undermined by the construction of numerous dams.

This regional cooperation - under Chinese aegis - directly competes with the Mekong River Commission (MRC), a governance body under American influence.

Project financing

The Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, has been particularly active on the file, promising to finance projects worth thirty million dollars in Cambodia, to strengthen its cooperation with Laos on subjects as diverse as the protection environment, border surveillance or the digital economy.

China strengthens its influence

The concomitance of this meeting with the diplomatic visit of the special envoy of ASEAN in Burma (who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia) will undoubtedly allow more political interviews.

China is therefore asserting its influence over the management of natural resources in the Mekong area and strengthening its image as a regional arbiter.

►Also read

: Laos: a mega-dam on the Mekong which worries NGOs

 (

October 30, 2019

)

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