China and the

Development of

the Mekong River

Jnani Pongpakatien, Aiwa Pooamorn, Thaniya Theungsang

Background

• Critical shared resource between China

(44% of Mekong = Lancang), Myanmar,

Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam

• Provide for the livelihoods of more than 80

million people

• China's 7 planned hydropower stations: tap

60% of the flow of the river

• Unilateral decision (Goh, 2009)

Is China thwarting

attempts to ensure

that all riparian states

benefit from the

development of the

Mekong River?

• Economic and Political

Aspects

• Ecological and Social

Impacts

• Conclusion

Economics • China's high demand for energy. Eight-dam

Lancang cascade designed to produce

15,600 MW (Cronin, 2009)

• Chinese state-owned corporations investing

in hydropower development in Lower

Mekong following a Build Operate Transfer

model. Local gov will control dam only

after 30 or 50 years. (Tao, 2012)

• Many dams are silting up much faster than

the 50-100 years originally anticipated

(Cronin, 2009)

Politics

• China’s own development of the river drives

the logic of building more dams further

downstream (Hirsch, 2011)

• US Lower Mekong Initiative to counter

China's influence (Hirsch, 2011)

• China is not a member of the Mekong River

Commission but is increasingly engaged as a

dialogue partner

• Bilateralism over multilateralism

Politics

• China will be able to control the quantity of

water released to downstream countries

(Goh, 2009)

• Worst affected states will be those furthest

downstream, Vietnam and Cambodia.

• Lack of any formal agreements means that

there are no safeguards in place

Ecological

• variety species endemic to Mekong

threatened to be extinct, less diversity, less

food source

• water level decreased, natural current

altered, Tonle Sap floodplain less fertile

• sediments locked up, less fertile land

downstream for agriculture

• saline water intrudes,vietnamese

agriculture decline

Fish Ladders

Fish dugong stingray

Ecological (continued)

• deforestation = severe irreversible damage

to the ecosystem

• Lifespan of the dam becomes much shorter

than expected, about 20 years left (Cronin,

2010)

• future pollution from future development

eg. copper & bauxite mining etc.

Fish is our life

Social

• Subsistence-based living becomes hard for

downstream; subsistence level fail,

industrial level thrive

• widening gap between the rich & poor

• Chinese resettlement caused by Lancang

dams (Goh, 2009)

• authority suppress the data & local

participation, local people's voice not heard

Social [cont]

• MRC is not being used as a voicing channel

• China doesn't look basin-wide, their EIA

focus only on impacts within its territory --

>disproportional impacts (Goh, 2009)

Poor ppls livelihoods

Conclusion

• Electricity generation and exports,

commercial navigation, boost econ

development

• Environmental and human security =

externalities?

• Poor channels for communication between

China and LM states

• LM states cannot challenge China directly o relative power (economics, military, etc.)

o Chinese aid and investment (infrastructures)

Is China thwarting attempts to ensure that

all riparian states benefit from the

development of the Mekong River?

Conclusion II •

• In general, yes o Even with the political interests for soft power...

o And China does bring in investment in SEAsian

countries...

o Economic interests - such as electricity generation

paramounts

o Revenue generated do not go to the local people

in the most part

o Irreversible ecological impacts

References

• Cronin, R. (2009). Mekong Dams and the

perils of peace. Survival, 51(6), 147-160.

• Goh, E. (2004). China in the Mekong River

basin: the regional security implications of

resource development on the Lancang

Jiang. Singapore: Institute of Defence and

Strategic Studies.

• Hirsch, P. (2011). China and the Cascading

Geopolitics of Lower Mekong Dams. The

Asia Pacific Journal, 9(20).

• Tao, Z. (2012). The Inadequacies of Chinese

Overseas Investment Regulations: A Case

Study of the Myitsone Dam, Myanmar.

Retrieved from

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o%20Tao.pdf