China ‘taking control’ of vital Mekong river through dam-building spree, Mike Pompeo warns
- Water levels at record lows in Southeast Asia’s most important river, which starts in China and flows through Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam
- Environmental groups fear Beijing-backed dams upstream will destroy fish stocks and allow China to manipulate flows
China is taking control of the flow of Southeast Asia’s most important river through a dam-building “spree”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Wednesday, as water levels along the Mekong reach record lows.
The famous waterway starts in China and twists south through parts of Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, feeding 60 million people through its basin and tributaries.
But environmental groups fear Beijing-backed dams straddling the river upstream will destroy fish stocks and allow China to manipulate water flows.
Pompeo said Chinese plans for the river, which include the blasting and dredging of waterbeds, represent “troubling trends”.
“We have seen a spree in upstream dam building that concentrates control over downstream flows,” he said in Bangkok at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit.
The meeting marked a decade since the launch of the Lower Mekong Initiative, a US-funded development programme, and Pompeo used the opportunity to point out flaws in China’s activity on the river.