“The increasing frequency of drought in the lower basin tracks closely to the way China restricts water upstream during the dry season.” “This is part of a long pattern that has driven numerous droughts,” the research organization says. Without that diversion, it says, the Mekong along the Thai-Lao border would have seen above average flows from April 2019 onward. “This rapid expansion of hydropower threatens all countries who share the Lower Mekong Basin, with downstream Cambodia and Vietnam at greatest risk.”ĭuring a 2019 Mekong basin drought, the upper reaches in China received record rainfall but dams kept nearly all of it from flowing downstream, the Stimson Center website says. “Chinese dam construction on the Upper Mekong is having devastating impacts on downstream communities, and dozens of dams are either planned, under construction or built within the Lower Mekong basin,” International Rivers says. Overall, the lower Mekong system supplies those living in the basin with about 80% of their animal protein needs, California-based advocacy group International Rivers says on its website. ![]() The lower river basin supports surrounding rice fields and the world’s largest freshwater fishery. Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia can obtain data from two Chinese hydrological stations in the upper Mekong basin, the report says.Įxperts, though, believe that effort diverts attention from problems China has caused by what the Stimson Center calls “impounding” - withholding - water upstream before it can flow through Southeast Asia into the sea. “In the low season, the dry season, of course this is the most challenging for the lower, downstream countries,” he said.īeijing began sharing upper Mekong River data in November through an online platform that it set up to provide “reliable forecasting and early warning services” on floods and droughts, Chinese state-controlled news website Global Times said in December. “It’s very clear that the Chinese are using the dams for political leverage,” he said, meaning they increase the amount of water released when they want to improve relations with downstream countries. They divert it for domestic irrigation and power use. The affected countries - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - seldom complain because they are smaller than China and because of the relationships between some of their leaders and Beijing, analysts say.Ĭhinese dam authorities normally divert water but increase flows ahead of events with Southeast Asian officials to project a good image, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said. Analysts say Chinese officials are diverting so much water from dams along the upper Mekong River system that Southeast Asian countries are going dry during prime agricultural seasons and turning to other powers for help.Įleven southwest China dams have left much of the Lower Mekong region, with its population of 60 million, dry since 2019, according to data from the Stimson Center in Washington.
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