Water war risk rising on the Mekong
The Mekong River, a waterway that originates in China and snakes through five Southeast Asian countries, is emerging as a new security flashpoint, similar in dynamic to escalating conflicts in the South China Sea.
China has built 11 dams and has plans for another eight along its upper stretch of the river, which begins in the Tibetan Plateau, stretches through much of mainland Southeast Asia, and ends in Vietnam’s rice-producing Mekong Delta.
Apart from the environmental consequences, there is an emerging strategic component to the dams, one that has reduced Southeast Asian nations’ leverage vis-à-vis China and its wider designs for the neighboring region.
David Hutt
