China’s Mekong Security Role in the Headlines with New Joint Patrols
Last week, China conducted another iteration of its joint patrols with three riparian countries in the Mekong River. The development spotlighted one aspect of Beijing’s continued effort to advance collaboration in the Mekong subregion and Southeast Asia more generally.
As I have noted before, as China has been looking for ways to boost its influence in Southeast Asia over the past few years, among of the areas of focus has been on the Mekong within mainland Southeast Asia, one of the world’s longest and resource-rich rivers. And one of the manifestations of this has been the so-called Mekong joint patrols, where, following deadly attacks on Chinese cargo ships in October 2011, Beijing has been looking to improve law enforcement and security cooperation with Mekong countries.
Prashanth Parameswaran
