IN THE NEWS: Vietnam puts Mekong's fate on ASEAN's agenda

by Marwaan Macan-Markar [NIkkei Asian Review]

In a nod to green diplomacy, Vietnam is raising the geopolitical stakes over the Mekong River, Southeast Asia's largest body of water, which has dropped to record lows due to a severe drought and construction of large dams.

Hanoi has signaled its intent to raise the issue this year as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. By putting the Mekong, which is shared by five riparian countries in the river's basin and China, on the 10-nation regional bloc's agenda, Vietnam has transformed the waterway from a subregional issue to one of greater international concern.

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But development analysts question China's hydro-diplomacy. Although China argues that "one of the benefits of the LMC is it can mitigate droughts by operating dams, it is clear that infrastructure solutions alone are not the answer," said Carl Middleton, deputy director for international research at the Center for Social Development Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "The drought should force a rethink since it lays bare the river as more than an economic enterprise."

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