Far Eastern Economic Review
August 24, 2004

Can the Mekong be preserved without a functioning body to oversee it? The Mekong River Commission is in place, but is it strong enough to put pressure on Beijing?

Efforts to ensure that the Mekong isn’t ruined by development are hampered by the lack of an umbrella organization with authority over the entire river.

The Mekong River Commission (MRC), formed by Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1995 to coordinate the management and conservation of the Mekong basin, has some obvious flaws: China isn’t a member. Nor is Burma, also along the river’s upper reaches.

China refuses to join the MRC and doesn’t consult downstream countries about its dam-building on the Mekong, say Southeast Asian diplomats. They add that China’s inclusion in the MRC probably wouldn’t help. Power politics make it hard for any Southeast Asian government to say no to Beijing. None “has felt able to confront China in a formal fashion” about the impact of the dams, says Milton Osborne, an expert on Mekong affairs.

Even without China, some members seem prepared to disregard the MRC in pursuit of national interests. Vietnam, in breach of its obligations, failed to notify Cambodia that it was building a second dam on the Sesan, a Mekong tributary, MRC officials say, and Hanoi is also ignoring requirements to ensure the dam does no harm to neighbouring countries. Vietnam denies both charges.

Similarly, MRC officials cite Thailand’s choice of two tributaries–rather than the Mekong itself–for proposed water-diversion schemes as a deliberate move to sidestep the need to obtain approval from other MRC members. “The MRC is still a weak organization,” says Joern Kristensen, its former chief executive. “It doesn’t carry much weight with China or its member countries.”

One possible solution mooted by Southeast Asian diplomats is for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to treat water-resource management as a political or security issue. Noting that China has been deepening its relationship with Asean, the diplomats suggest that the Mekong be placed on the Asean-China agenda. That would help redress the existing power imbalance, they say. The subject would fit neatly into the Asean-China Strategic Partnership signed by the two sides last October. “We should use the Mekong water issue as a test case,” says one diplomat. The MRC would be left to handle technical
matters.