This file photo dated Mar 11, 2021 shows the eighth Cambodia-China Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River, connecting Kampong Cham province and Tboung Khmum province in southeastern Cambodia. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

China will continue to play a key role in the joint development of the Lancang-Mekong River by sharing its experience and technological expertise, experts say.

“China’s role is very important to enhance the cooperation in water management with lower Mekong countries as it lies in the upstream area and (it has) advanced monitoring and information systems,” said Sangam Shrestha, a professor of water engineering and management at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand.

The summit is the commission’s highest-level political event to discuss topics related to the latest knowledge and innovative solutions for the preservation of the Mekong River

The river, which is known as the Lancang in China and as the Mekong in Southeast Asia, flows from China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, en route to the South China Sea.

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Shrestha told China Daily that climate change is expected to bring negative impacts on the river water availability, which makes it important to strengthen cooperation by leveraging the existing regional coordination mechanisms.

The comments came as the Mekong River Commission, or MRC, prepares to hold its fourth summit from April 2 to 5, in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Established in 1995, the MRC is an intergovernmental organization that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekong River. China is a dialogue partner of the MRC.

The summit is the commission’s highest-level political event to discuss topics related to the latest knowledge and innovative solutions for the preservation of the Mekong River, Lao News Agency noted.

Shrestha said solutions such as joint monitoring and data and information sharing about the river flow and water quality can be implemented to better manage the river. 

He also suggested that a Lancang-Mekong Water Academy should be established to train policymakers and water managers of the involved countries.

As for China, Shrestha said the nation can provide support in installation of automated hydrological, meteorological monitoring system along the river, providing scholarships for public officials, water managers and young professionals from lower Mekong countries, and sharing data and information of the upstream.

In 2020, China signed an agreement with the MRC to share year-round hydrological data. The country also announced six measures to enhance Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, or LMC, in July 2022, including a plan on LMC water resources to strengthen hydrological information sharing. 

The LMC was established in 2016 and brings together all six countries situated along the river.

One of the biggest challenges in shared river management is that the Mekong involves different countries which are in various stages of development and thus have different priorities, said Zhang Hongzhou, a research fellow with the China Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

In addition, Zhang said there is competition in water usage between states and within states.

For example, while countries like China and Laos are more interested in developing hydropower, others like Cambodia and Vietnam are more concerned about agriculture and fishery. 

“If the economic development is sustained in the Mekong region, countries will have higher social resilience toward various water shocks, and thus be better at managing water deficits and conflicts,” said Zhang. 

A more developed country with a high level of economic diversity and social resilience is more capable of combining different factors of production and exploring alternatives, he said. This includes water imports through virtual water trade, adopting advanced technology and practices like seawater desalination and wastewater recycling, and improving irrigation efficiencies.

If the economic development is more balanced in the Mekong region, countries will likely to have more similar demands on the water resources, said Zhang.

China’s “development approach” can help improve the common management of the Mekong River by sharing its experience in economic development to narrow the development gap among regional countries, he added. 

“China has a lot of experience and also advanced technology in terms of fish farming … all this will be helpful to other Mekong countries in terms of building water resilience, reducing the dependence on the water resource for economic development,” said Zhang. 

The greatest problem in the common management of the Mekong River is that the cooperative framework needs to be rebalanced, said Digby James Wren, director of the Mekong Research Center at the Royal Academy of Cambodia’s Institute of International Relations of Cambodia, or IRIC.

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“I don’t see how China cannot be included (in some frameworks) because it is the source of the river and more than half of the river is in China,” said Wren, who is also a special advisor to the IRIC. The current geopolitical framework is creating a serious problem for river management as some frameworks carry political motives, he said.

Wren said he hopes to see more cooperation among different frameworks, such as the MRC and the LMC.

“Ultimately, I believe that the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the Mekong River Commission need to be combined,” said Wren. “That would be the best policy solution.”

kelly@chinadailyapac.com