Mauro Gia Samonte
It’s not widely ventilated, but the United States has been into politicizing the Mekong River situation with just as much vehemence as it has done with the dispute over the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) or for that matter, the Covid-19 pandemic, which to this day, it blames on China.
In a tweet sometime ago, Ned Price, US State Department spokesman, raised “concerns over the dropping water levels of the Mekong River,” after the Mekong River Commission (MRC) had expressed apprehension that the water level in the river had come down to “alarming levels” as a result of water control in upstream dams in China.
It turns out that China had constructed dams in the upstream territory of the Mekong River. The Western media, certainly with much push by the United States, had fanned the issue as China’s exercise of water hegemony. It has been depicted in accounts both in mainstream and social media that China is monopolizing the water of the great Mekong River to the detriment of the downstream countries.
Certainly, it was a genuine concern the MRC voiced by way of trying to find means to avert possible disaster to come about from the shortfall of water for the Mekong River nations Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. But true to form, the United States seized upon the MRC alarm and stoked it extensively as China’s attempt to establish water hegemony in the region.
According to an account in the Global Times, “In recent years, the increasing extreme weather in the Mekong River region has made it increasingly difficult for the MRC to forecast hydrological information at the technical level. In addition, certain countries outside the region have set up a so-called “Mekong Dam Monitor” project, which puts great pressure on the MRC to make more scientific conclusions.”
“This pressure sometimes leads the MRC to draw exaggerated conclusions without conducting investigations and studies based on objective facts. But it is pardonable as we all care about the livelihoods of people in downstream countries.”
Moreover, the Global Times report stated that the “Mekong Dam Monitor” was a US State Council-funded program run by the US-backed institution Stimson Center Southeast Asia, which has been a persistent critic of Mekong River issues in recent years.
Started on Dec. 15, 2020, the program monitored hydrological and climatic information and satellite aerial photographs of 31 dams on the river.
The center’s program director Brian Eyler repeatedly lambasted China in media interviews, but Chinese observers and experts have questioned the project’s professional standards and motivations, as it was seen as an attempt to contain China in the region by hyping China’s “dam threat,” citing only weak evidence and sources.
According to reports, “The MRC, which has been working for years to obtain the hydrological data of the Mekong River, still has data errors in its conclusions, probably due to backward estimation tools. The experts in the river region have reasons to be skeptical of the ‘Mekong Dam Monitor,’ the project rushed through by a team from outside the region.
“The MRC suggested the water shortfall since the beginning of the year is mainly because of lower rainfall, upstream flow changes, hydropower operations in tributaries and outflow restrictions from the upstream Jinghong dam in Southwest China’s Yunnan province.”
The Ned Price alarm suggested China was exercising water hegemony over those countries in the Mekong downstream. To clarify matters, China saw to it to invite envoys of the countries involved to inspect the dam. What the diplomats discovered was the contrary.
The Lancang-Mekong River flows through six countries – China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. It is called the Lancang River in China, while downstream after flowing out of China’s Yunnan province, it is called the Mekong River.
It is said that since last year, the US has been hyping up the issue of Mekong water resources in an attempt to create a hotspot, sow discord between regional countries and sabotage the atmosphere for Lancang-Mekong cooperation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian is quoted as saying, “This is nothing new,” debunking claims with facts and figures.
Experts have found that after China’s cascade reservoirs were put into use, dry-season flows of relevant sections increased by 20 percent compared to past natural levels. The latest report by the MRC released in August also acknowledged the reservoirs’ function to store water in the flood season for later use in the dry season, which helps maintain the steady flow of the Mekong. On the whole, the hydropower facilities in China play a beneficial role for Mekong countries.
Here is what the Global Times reported about the reaction of the minister counselor of the Embassy of Cambodia, Sreng Sataro, on US distortion of facts on the Mekong River issue: “When I heard Western countries talking about the damage by the Chinese dams to the Mekong River, I felt like it is serious. But when I came to see [it], the fact is very different from what they said. The dams are very good to protect the environment and rare animals, and especially for preventing floods and drought in downstream countries.”
“You see, the Western media ignore the facts as they did with my country,” Global Times quoted the Cambodian diplomat as saying.
Now, what should interest us about this issue raised by the US against China on the Mekong River?
Though this is an issue seemingly exclusive to the Mekong River countries, I somehow perceive its ramification upon the pestering South China Sea disputes among China and its Asean neighbors, particularly the Philippines. It has been a US incessant machination to get the Philippines in a belligerent mode vis-à-vis China for the purpose of advancing America’s own hegemonic designs in the Indo-Pacific region. The arbitral ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) had a way of propping up the Philippine position against China in the West Philippine Sea and it had been evident that the PCA arbitral proceedings were US-maneuvered. How did China blunt this US machination? By pouring in packages upon packages of economic development investments, financial assistance and grants to the Philippines, bringing about friendly relations between China and the Philippines as had never been had before. How China resolved the Mekong River crisis should augur Chinese similar mode of settling the South China Sea dispute – setting aside differences in favor of win-win cooperation.
Source from Manila Times29-08-2021