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The Thirsty Dragon: Water is China’s Greatest Weapon and its Achilles Heel
October 19th, 2020
Via the Harvard Political Review, commentary on China’s water politics: When it comes to flood myths, China’s is not as well known as Noah’s Ark, but just as influential. Legend says that four millennia ago, the Yellow and Yangtze rivers frequently flooded, with devastating consequences for the ancient Chinese. However, salvation arrived when a distant relative […]
Read more »US Launches Mekong Partnership as Chinese Debt Trap Closes on Laos
September 16th, 2020
Via Future Directions International, a report on a different type of water politics, one which pertains to geopolitical spread of influence: The United States announced a new Mekong-US Partnership at a virtual summit hosted by Vietnam on 11 September. An initial US$153 million ($210 million) will be made available to Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos to […]
Read more »Chinese Hydroelectric Investments In Central Asia
September 8th, 2020
Via Eurasianet, a look at China’s hydroelectric investments in Central Asia: Any investor wishing to stay friendly with all five Central Asian republics knows to steer clear of major hydropower projects. When the five countries were part of the Soviet Union, interdependence worked: Moscow built some of the world’s tallest dams in upstream Kyrgyzstan and […]
Read more »Is The Mekong Doomed?
September 6th, 2020
Via The Diplomat, a sobering report on the Mekong River: The miracle of the Mekong, where the pulsating force of the monsoon-driven river every year pushes its tributary to back up and reverse its flow into the great Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, has again been disrupted and obstructed by dams, drought, and climate change. […]
Read more »US Official Attacks China’s ‘Manipulation’ of the Mekong
September 5th, 2020
Via The Diplomat, an article on how Southeast Asia’s mighty river is quickly becoming a new front in US-China competition: A senior American diplomat has criticized China’s string of hydropower dams on the Mekong River, becoming the latest U.S. official to raise alarm about their possible effects on countries downstream. David R. Stilwell, assistant secretary of […]
Read more »Struggling With Drought on the Mekong
September 3rd, 2020
Via The Diplomat, an article on how climate change and dams combine to push the Mekong’s water levels to record lows: Drought, climate change, and the construction of dams – on a scale that beggars belief – are threatening a river system that traverses five countries and feeds 70 million people who live hand to […]
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