Treat Mekong droughts like South China Sea – through Asean: ex-Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan

Name: Have China’s dams been drying up the Mekong River or is low rainfall to blame?
Uploaded: 2020-09-08T13:00:22.000Z
Duration: 2 min 31 s
Description: Have China’s dams been drying up the Mekong River or is low rainfall to blame?

Asean nations struggling with droughts that the US blames on China should address their concerns with Beijing collectively, former diplomat advises

Water crisis is a ‘strategic challenge’ of ‘international concern’, he says

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

A fisherman on the Mekong River in northeastern Thailand, with Laos on the left. Photo: AFP

Bhavan Jaipragas

Published: 9:00pm, 8 Sep 2020Updated: 1:21am, 9 Sep 2020

Southeast Asian countries grappling with droughts in the Mekong River – which originates in China – might have greater leverage if they raised their concerns in multilateral arenas such as Asean rather than speaking to Beijing separately.

But before such a change can take place, the countries involved – Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand – must set aside differences and forge a common view on the long-standing water crisis.

These were among the views shared by diplomatic observers in an online webinar on Tuesday on issues involving the Mekong area and its eponymous river, which is emerging as a topic of mainstream discussion after years of being viewed as a niche matter.

Amid fresh US accusations that China is manipulating water flows through dams built upstream of the 4,350km river – known as the Lancang in China – commentators have increasingly compared the matter to the South China Sea dispute as an emerging theatre of superpower rivalry.

02:31

Have China’s dams been drying up the Mekong River or is low rainfall to blame?

For the second year running, water levels in the Mekong are at a record low, raising alarm bells over the drought’s impact on 60 million Southeast Asians who depend on the river.

Bilahari Kausikan, a retired Singapore diplomat who regularly comments on Southeast Asian matters, said while the Mekong crisis was often talked about “in functional terms” – over its environmental, health and agricultural impact – it actually posed a far graver “strategic challenge” to the affected states.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x