News
Will China turn off the Mekong tap?
Countries in the lower Mekong basin are watching anxiously to see whether their “big brother” to the north will tackle the growing Mekong River crisis. China controls the upper section of the river, which rises on the Tibetan Plateau and runs through Laos, the North and ...
Missing Mekong waters rouse suspicions of China
By this time of year, the Mekong River should have been rising steadily with the monsoon rains, bringing fishermen a bounty of fat fish. Instead, the river water in Thailand has fallen further than anyone can remember and the only fish are tiny. Scientists and people living ...
Panu Wongcha-um
Record Mekong water shortage raises concern over Chinese dams
By this time of year, the Mekong River should have been rising steadily with the monsoon rains, bringing fishermen a bounty of fat fish. Instead, the river water in Thailand has fallen further than anyone can remember and the only fish are tiny. Scientists and people living ...
Open Letter: Spare Cambodia from Great Power politics in 21st century
The unfortunate speculation that China is building a military base in Cambodian territory is guided by only by ill-intended and misinformed plethora without any evidence. It is utterly a smear campaign against the national interests of Cambodians and the hard-earned peace and development the national government ...
China must be sincere on Mekong
Last week, the Bangkok Post published remarks by Yang Yang, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Thailand, explaining how China and others are promoting water resources cooperation in the Mekong “for the benefit of the people in the region”. I, and members of the Thai ...
How to engage China and Japan constructively
At the moment, China and Japan are planning to work together on at least 52 business projects in third countries in the region, encompassing both the Indian and Pacific oceans. Certainly, these projects provide tangible ways for Asia’s two largest economies to foster mutual trust ...
KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN
Response from the Thai Mekong People's Network from Eight Provinces to the Chinese Embassy Spokesperson's Remarks on the Media Report on China's Impacts on the Mekong River
Pursuant to the Chinese Embassy Spokesperson’s Remarks on the Media Report on the Mekong, which alleges that the media is targeting China based on groundless and inaccurate information and insufficient attention has been paid to the effort of concerned parties, including China and Thailand, to ...
Govt sits idly by as China churns up the Mekong
Recently, a coalition of civil society groups, which has monitored development on and along the Mekong River, issued a frightening statement. Fluctuations of river flows during the past three decades have been at record highs, they said. That is a big deal for people whose livelihoods ...
Nauvarat Suksamran
China winning new Cold War on the Mekong
When the state tabloid China Daily ran a paid advertisement in the New York Times extolling the virtues of Beijing’s proliferating dams in Laos, the piece sparked a new cold war controversy. Entitled “Employment on hydroelectric project in Laos delivers better lives”, the piece stated that ...
Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Confirms China Will Halt Mekong Rapids Blasting
Mr. Niwat Roykaew, founder of the Rak Chiang Khong Group in northern Thailand, has shared a letter he received on behalf of the Network of Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces from Mr. Don Pramudwinai, the Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs, that confirms media reports in March ...
Pianporn Deetes