Chinese power along Mekong River proves divisive as commerce and conservation clash

Beijing hopes to dredge the riverbed in northern Thailand to allow passage for cargo ships and possibly military vessels

Laos and Cambodia have been courted by Chinese investment but Thai activists claim Chinese dams are destroying their way of life

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A giant Buddha on the Thai side of the Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai province, with Myanmar in the background. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:51pm, 10 Jan 2020Updated: 8:10pm, 17 Feb 2020

Some 97km of rocks in Thai waters stand between Beijing and dominance over the Mekong, a mighty river that feeds millions as it threads south from the Tibetan plateau through five countries before emptying into the South China Sea.

China has long wanted to dredge the riverbed in northern Thailand to open passage for massive cargo ships – and potentially military vessels. Ultimately a link could be carved from Yunnan province thousands of kilometres south through the Mekong countries – Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

There, the river emerges into the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and the centrepiece of Beijing’s trade and security strategy for its Asian neighbourhood.

Under the tagline “Shared River, Shared Future” China insists it seeks only the sustainable development of the river and to split the spoils of a trade and energy boom with its Mekong neighbours and their market of 240 million people. But squeezed for value by the dams lacing China’s portion of the river – and further downstream – the Mekong is already changing.

Fish stocks have collapsed say Thai fisherman, and nutrient-rich land in the Vietnamese delta is sinking as the sediment flow shrinks.

The river is rivalled only by the Amazon for its biodiversity, environmentalists say, but now endemic species like the giant Mekong catfish and river dolphins face extinction.

Environment versus big business. Geopolitics throttling a lifeline to 60 million people. Big themes are playing out on a slow-moving river.

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