International relations

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed support for a Southeast Asian diplomatic effort to end the political crisis in Myanmar. Speaking during a visit to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, Lavrov said the Five Point Consensus agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc ...

Economic development zones in mainland Southeast Asia have contributed to a range of illicit activities, including drug trafficking and wildlife trafficking, according to a new report from C4ADS, a U.S.-based research organization. The report, which analyzes 110 economic development zones (EDZs) in the five lower Mekong nations – ...

For Southeast Asian countries, the meaning of regional connectivity and integration goes beyond their vision of development and economic progress. Interconnectedness also applies when discussing disasters and environmental degradation. One example is transboundary haze, the top-of-mind term for the raging forest fires on Sumatra or Kalimantan ...

The U.N.’s special envoy on Myanmar met behind closed doors with Thailand’s leader Friday, trying to find solutions to the Burmese crisis, as ASEAN dithered on naming its emissary to the coup-ridden country, which has already blocked the proposed visit. Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations ...

Three senior reporters who fled Myanmar for Thailand after the brutal military coup “face certain arrest and persecution” if they are deported following their arrest in Chiang Mai on Sunday, journalist groups say. The three are prominent journalists with the independent Burmese news agency Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and were detained in ...

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) is crucial to help promote power connectivity and energy cooperation among the six LMC countries, an official at the Electricite Du Cambodge (EDC) said in a recent interview. Prom Sokrith, chief of the administration at the EDC’s Power Plant C7 (400 megawatts) ...

Mekong River countries’ diplomats expressed that they value the scientific, regulatory effect of Chinese dams on water resources, following their latest in-person visits to the main hydropower stations along the Lancang River, recognizing China’s role in bringing practical benefits to downstream sustainable development and calling ...

A weekend summit on the Myanmar coup crisis will be a test for ASEAN’s credibility and unity, a senior Thai official said Thursday, amid an escalating death toll and violence across its western border. Security forces in Myanmar have killed at least 739 people since a ...

On March 23, 2016, the first LMC Leaders’ Meeting was successfully held in Sanya, Hainan. In the spirit of a “shared river, shared future”, leaders of China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam jointly announced the launch of the LMC – a new type of ...

Thailand has announced that the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, will attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia next week – his first known foreign trip since he seized power in a coup on February 1. Myanmar ...