Radio Free Asia

China Looms Large Over Its Southeast Asian Neighbors in More Ways Than One

Already the largest trade and investment partner of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, Beijing is also an important political and diplomatic supporter of those authoritarian states. They in turn back Chinese positions at the U.N. and other international organizations.

But it is on the Mekong River--which flows for 2,700 miles from the Himalayan mountains of Tibet to the South China Sea through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam--where China has a life-and-death impact on tens millions of Southeast Asians. China, which calls the Mekong the Lancang, has built at least eight dams on the river since the 1990s and has dozens more planned or under construction.

Chinese companies have put $7 billion toward building Special Economic Zones, dams, mines, and rubber plantations in Laos, according to official sources.

Much of the loans and investment falls under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative of massive infrastructure projects across Asia aimed at promoting trade and connectivity with China.

The explosion of dams on the Mekong, and the prospect of eventually hundreds of dams on the key waterway from Tibet to Vietnam, has alarmed environmentalists and experts on local communities.

They say existing dams already affect downstream fishermen and farmers by disrupting fish migration patterns and blocking water and vital sediment flows needed to refresh farmland in the Mekong rice-growing regions of Cambodia and Vietnam. Fish are the main source of protein for millions of people living along the Mekong River downstream from the major Lao dams.

In the realm of finance and debt, Laos’ China-funded dam-building spree has raised alarm bells over rising debt to Beijing – a problem that has emerged across Asia as the OBOR scheme, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), takes off.

In the case of Laos, one of Asia’s poorest countries, overall external debt had risen to $13.6 billion by the end of 2017 and close to half is owed to China, International Monetary Fund statistics show. Critics say much of the lending was extended without transparent assessments of the country’s ability to service the debt.

Laos risks repeating the “debt trap” experience of Sri Lanka and other OBOR loan recipients, who have had to turn over territory or infrastructure projects to Chinese creditors after falling behind on debt repayment.

Gallery

Completed Chinese-Funded Dams in Laos

To be completed by 2020 Chinese-funded dams in Laos

To be completed by 2025 Chinese-funded dams in Laos

To be completed by 2030 Chinese-funded dams in Laos

Under MOU Chinese-funded dams in Laos