Children walk along the Mekong River in Phnom Penh on April 5. Riparian nations have pledged to step up cooperation over the river’s use amidst fears China's upstream dams are exacerbating a severe regional drought (AFP).

Upstream and lower dams could render the Mekong Delta unviable, and China’s intransigence in building them and refusing to share information about their operations will negatively impact the lives of more than 60 million people. “China has plans to construct up to eight dams in total, some sources say the number could rise to fourteen. It is clear already that Chinese dam construction is having a negative impact on downstream states,” Professor Carlyle Thayer of the Australian Defense Force Academy told Thanh Nien Weekly. “The ecology of the river system downstream has had wide-ranging effects. Dams prevent the downward flow of alluvium which fertilizes the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Dam construction interferes with the migration of spawning fish. The impact on fisheries reduces the amount of fish and therefore protein that feeds the people in the Lower Mekong,” he said. The Mekong originates in the Tibetan plateau and flows 4,800 km (2,980 miles) through rice-rich areas of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia before emptying into the East Sea off Vietnam. “Mighty Mekong” has dropped to its lowest level in 50 years in northern Thailand and Laos, alarming communities who depend on the critical waterway for food, transport, drinking water and irrigation. More than 60 million people rely in some way on the river, which is the world’s largest inland fishery, producing an annual estimated catch of 3.9 million tons, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) – comprising Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, who have agreed to cooperate for sustainable development of the Mekong River. … But China’s critics have taken the issue even further. “Security analysts are increasingly concerned that China is using its geostrategic advantage to unduly influence the government in Laos and Cambodia. Their future livelihood is largely in China’s hands,” Thayer said. “China condemns great power bullying of smaller countries, but a close look at China’s behavior in the Greater Mekong Sub-region indicates that it is Beijing (that is) acting like a hegemon,” he added. Richard Cronin, head of the Southeast Asia program at the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington, expressed concern about “an unhealthy geopolitical shift that is underway that seems to favor China, especially in Southeast Asia. “China has several goals in constructing a massive eight dam cascade in Yunnan… China is determined to incorporate the natural resources of the Mekong Basin into its manufacturing supply chain, expanding its political and economic influence,” he said in a statement on February 4, titled “China’s activities in Southeast Asia and the implications for US interests.” …

Dams portend grim future for Mekong Delta: experts