Thailand scraps China-led project to blast open Mekong River

By Panarat Thepgumpanat

 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks as Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha gestures during a news conference at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, November 5, 2019. Rungroj Yongrit/Pool via REUTERS

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has scrapped a Chinese-led project to blast rapids on the Mekong River that had been opposed by local people and environmental groups, a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

 

China initiated a plan to dredge the Mekong River in 2001 to make room for large ships to carry goods from its landlocked southern province of Yunnan to ports in Thailand, Laos, and the rest of Southeast Asia.

 

The plan had been opposed by conservationists and communities in Thailand living along the Mekong River. They feared it would harm the environment and benefit only China.

 

The Thai cabinet agreed to scrap the dredging plan during a weekly meeting on Tuesday.

 

"The communities affected and non-profit groups were against the plan, fearing it would affect the way of life, and China also had no funding for it ... So we ended the project," said Trisulee Trisaranakul, a deputy government spokeswoman.

 

FILE PHOTO: A fisherman is seen on the Mekong river bank outside Nong Khai, Thailand January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/

 

"It didn't take off yet. We were only doing environmental and social impact assessments," she told Reuters.

 

The Chinese embassy in Bangkok was not immediately available for comment.

 

A Thai cabinet document said that China had in any case informed countries on the Mekong River last year that it was not planning to pursue the project, but work had continued on stretches of the river in Laos and Myanmar.

 

The Mekong flows from China, where it is known as the Lancang river, through five southeast Asian countries.

 

(Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Louise Heavens)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-06

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3 hours ago, webfact said:

 

China initiated a plan to dredge the Mekong River in 2001 to make room for large ships to carry goods from its landlocked southern province of Yunnan to ports in Thailand, Laos, and the rest of Southeast Asia.

 

The plan had been opposed by conservationists and communities in Thailand living along the Mekong River. They feared it would harm the environment and benefit only China.

China only ever does things that benefit the mother land.......LOL

"and China also had no funding for it"

        nothing to do with what local people think, all about the money as usual...

4 hours ago, webfact said:

and benefit only China

course it would, is there anyone here that doesnt already know that ?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

China initiated a plan to dredge the Mekong River in 2001 to make room for large ships to carry goods from its landlocked southern province of Yunnan to ports in Thailand, Laos, and the rest of Southeast Asia.

A tiny glitch in the master race's plan to take over Asia.

The photo of the 2 PMs is interesting: As Chinaman speaks, Thai PM has a post-coronal change of focus.

Well done Thailand - China get stuffed!!

Ultimately China still controls the river and can dam it and stop flow completely. 

Will other Asian countries object? Of course they will.

And.........

What? Thailand/Laos /Vietnam /Cambodia declare war on China? 

 

China has shown multiple times just in the last few years that it doesn't give a rat's patoot what the rest of the world wants or needs in its headlong quest for global domination. 

Now Thailand can expect no water to be released down stream and the Mekong to become a stagnant pond. China doesn't like the word no.

2 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Now Thailand can expect no water to be released down stream and the Mekong to become a stagnant pond. China doesn't like the word no.

They didn't get a no.

 

it was only stopped because China didn't have enough funding for it, they prolly stopped it themselves.

16 hours ago, webfact said:

A Thai cabinet document said that China had in any case informed countries on the Mekong River last year that it was not planning to pursue the project,

I see everyone conveniently ignored this part. It makes the whole article pointless.

 

As well as all your comments.

17 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

They didn't get a no.

 

it was only stopped because China didn't have enough funding for it, they prolly stopped it themselves.

Regardless. 

19 hours ago, webfact said:

and China also had no funding for it

Honestly, it's how the world works. It has nothing to do with the local Thai people and eveything to do with the fact that China would not have funding for it, but what governments in the world want to say they only stopped it due to financial concerns?

That idea might have actually worked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouncing_bomb

 

Not sure why the Chinese would bomb their own dams though: https://espresso.economist.com/eab2156d0c600ceb7e814018273aec86

 

19 hours ago, webfact said:

China also had no funding for it

They certainly didn't run out of money yet there is no money available which suggests that China has cancelled the plan from nearly 20 years ago.

On 2/6/2020 at 3:49 AM, webfact said:

"It didn't take off yet. We were only doing environmental and social impact assessments," she told Reuters.

Seems contradicted by

On 2/6/2020 at 3:49 AM, webfact said:

China initiated a plan to dredge the Mekong River in 2001 to make room for large ships to carry goods from its landlocked southern province of Yunnan to ports in Thailand, Laos, and the rest of Southeast Asia.

"initiate" - to cause a process or action TO BEGIN.

But since 2001 China has adopted an economic policy in support of its Silk Road infrastructure that participant nations such as ASEAN members must benefit as well along with China (albeit not to the same degree) in order to maintain the momentum of the Silk Road program.

As such the Chinese government might be sensitive to Thailand's current objections to the Chinese-led project to blast rapids on the Mekong River.

Ultimately, this means that China will have to offer some additional benefit for Thailand in order to proceed. But there's no guarantee that those additional "benefits" will go directly to the people in the Mekong River region - it will be what satisfies the Thai government politically (and individually?).