News
A water diversion project that China is funding in Thailand is raising eyebrows
Plans for a new water diversion project in Thailand are alarming environmentalists. And a Chinese state-owned firm offered to finance it, raising flags with those who fear China’s growing influence. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: In Thailand, plans for an ambitious water diversion project are raising lots of questions ...
MICHAEL SULLIVAN
6 countries vow water cooperation
Lancang-Mekong River countries have vowed strengthened cooperation on water resources management as they forge ahead to cope with common challenges in the basin, including drought caused by climate change. Heads of water resources authorities of the six countries made the remarks as they gathered online on ...
Hou Liqiang
Laos Will Open $5.9 Billion Railway as Debt to China Mounts
Laos, a nation of 7 million people wedged between China, Vietnam and Thailand, is opening a $5.9 billion Chinese-built railway that links China’s poor southwest to foreign markets but piles on potentially risky debt. The line through lush tropical mountains from the Laotian capital, Vientiane, to ...
Kurtenbach contributed from Bangkok
China could be preparing for 'water war' in Asia after completing serial dams in Tibet
Major floods in several parts of South and Southeast Asia this year are a wake-up call for countries such as India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand among others. Experts said that such floods could become a regular feature and that countries in the region must get together ...
IANS
China-backed gold mine in Laos pollutes local river, killing fish
A gold mine run by a Chinese company in southern Laos is releasing waste into a river in Sekong province, killing fish and fouling water used by villagers for drinking and bathing, Lao sources say. The Lao Kaleum Gold Mining Project began operations last year and ...
Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.
China has thousands of hydropower projects it doesn’t want
China is trying to wean its massive economy off coal and fossil fuels to meet its ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2060. So why is it trying to shut down as many as 40,000 hydropower plants? The answer lies deep in the nation’s troubled ...
Bloomberg
How Mekong River is turning into a new flashpoint in Indo-Pacific
For several years, US politicians have adopted the Japanese slogan of a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” calling for international law to apply over disputes in the South China Sea, where China is accused of acting aggressively. Earlier this month, during the East Asia Summit foreign ministers’ ...
David Hutt
Chinese Embassy in Cambodia refutes false report by Reuters on Mekong River data 'hacking'
The Chinese Embassy in Cambodia on Thursday refuted a false report published by Reuters, which claimed that Chinese hackers “stole Mekong [River] data from Cambodia.” The Reuters report, also published on Thursday, quoted the US Justice Department and two anonymous sources as saying that Chinese hackers ...
Global Times
China seizes two tonnes of smuggled pangolin scales from Vietnam
Customs agents in southwest China have seized 2.2 tonnes of pangolin scales and busted an endangered wildlife smuggling gang, state media reported. Two suspects were detained in the city of Yulin in Guangxi by customs officers, who also seized two kilograms of pangolin paws, the People’s Daily said ...
AFP
China’s rare earth supplies disrupted by Myanmar tumult
Fears are growing of a global shortage of rare earth minerals used in the manufacture of high-tech devices as unrest in Myanmar following the February 1 coup disrupts exports to China. Chinese companies started complaining about delays in shipments of the minerals since mid-March, reportedly due to ...
DOMINIC OO
