Lancang-Mekong Cooperation: How Did It Emerge from All Multilateral Mechanism？

LU GUANGsHENGVice-Director， Professor，Institute of International Studies，Yunnan University



Lancang-Mekong Cooperation: How Did It Emerge from All Multilateral Mechanism？

LU GUANGsHENG
Vice-Director， Professor，
Institute of International Studies，Yunnan University

The first Lancang-Mekong Cooperation （LMC） Leaders’ Meeting was held in Hainan of China on 24 March 2016. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson， this meeting is of great significance of“formulating rules and regulations as well as setting the tone” for the future development of LMC. The establishment of LMC was officially declared on 12 November 2015 with 6 member states， namely Cambodia， China， Laos，Myanmar， Thailand and Viet Nam. As known to all， there had been quite a number of multilateral cooperation mechanisms in the Mekong River subregion before the birth of LMC. What are the similarities and differences among all these multilateral mechanisms？ Are they competing against one another？ How China-advocated LMC could stand head and shoulders above the rest of so many multilateral mechanisms and serve the “Belt and Road” as well as China’s neighborhood foreign strategy？ This article pursues answers to the above questions.

On March 17， 2015， 6 Chinese law enforcement boats and 1 Laos law enforcement boat set sail at Guanlei port， Yunnan Province， which marked the 32nd China-Laos-Myanmar-Thailand Joint Patrols Law Enforcement on Mekong River has been officially launched.

MUlTilATERAl MEcHANisMs iN MEkoNG RivER AREA STAND iN BiG NUMBER

Multilateral mechanisms in Mekong River Area have emerged one after another in recent years. In fact， apart from the newly established LMC， multilateral mechanisms in various forms have been set up between the states along Mekong River and the US， Japan， ROK， India among other countries. All these mechanisms have been competing against one another. Basedon that fact， the birth of LMC has been somewhat late.

I. US-Mekong Cooperation. Since coming into power in 2009， President Obama has made great efforts in advancing the “Asia Pacific Rebalancing”Strategy， and the Mekong River area is the important strategic pivot of the US. In July 2009， the US summoned the foreign ministers of Thailand， Cambodia， Viet Nam and Laos for the first“Ministerial Meeting of US and Lower Mekong Countries”. At the meeting，the US put forward the cooperation mechanism “Lower Mekong Initiative”（LMI）， focusing on the areas including environment， healthcare， education and infrastructure. Within the framework of LMI， the US took a lead in setting up the “Friends of Lower Mekong”， which covered a number of countries and international organizations like Australia， Japan， ROK， New Zealand， EU， Asian Development Bank and the World Bank with the purpose of strengthening the development and assistance agenda in lower Mekong area. Myanmar joined LMI in 2012.

II. Japan-Mekong Cooperation. In October 2009， the first “Japan-Mekong Summit” was held among Japan， Cambodia， Laos， Myanmar， Thailand and Viet Nam， at which the decision was made to build “a new-type partnership for creating shared prosperity”. Since then， the Summit has been convened regularly once every year. Within that framework， Japan designed a bilateral aid mechanism for Cambodia， Laos and Viet Nam， providing assistance to the three countries in trade， investment and industrial development.Abe declared at the 7th Summit in July 2015 that Japan would provide 750 billion yen official development assistance to the Mekong countries in three years.

III. India-Mekong Cooperation. India has carried out cooperation enthusiastically with the Mekong countries on the purpose of building a land passageway into Southeast Asia. India worked together with the Mekong countries in October 2000 to launch the “Mekong-Ganges Cooperation Initiative”（MGCI）. As an important measure for India to speed up its “Look East” policy， MGCI focuses on cooperation in tourism， education （human resources development）， culture and transportation， with a plan of building roads and railways to connect all the countries in the region. In 2010， India， Viet Nam，Cambodia， Thailand and Myanmar jointly proposed a project to build the“Mekong-India Economic Corridor”aimed at building a trade passageway connecting India and the Mekong area with infrastructure as its priority.

IV. ROK-Mekong Cooperation. ROK，unwilling to lag behind， has actively pushed forward the Mekong River development strategy in recently years. In October 2011， ROK and the five Lower Mekong countries held the first “ROK-Mekong Countries Foreign Ministers Meeting” in Seoul. A declaration on the Establishment of ROKMekong Comprehensive Partnership and Shared Prosperity and Civilization was adopted， which elaborated the aim， principle， priority areas and mechanism among other contents of bilateral cooperation. The cooperation covered infrastructure， information technology， green environment， water resources conservation， agriculture and rural development， human resources development and so on so forth. Meanwhile， the meeting agreed that the cooperation mechanism consisted of foreign ministers meeting and high-level officials meeting.

Apart from the above mechanisms， there are quite a number of other multilateral mechanisms in the Mekong River area. Two of the most wellknown are the Great Mekong Sub-regional Economic Cooperation founded in 1992 and the Committee for Coordination of Investigations of Lower Mekong River Basin （the old Mekong River Committee） set up in 1957. The Latter one was transformed to a new Mekong River Commission with the Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin signed among Cambodia， Laos， Thailand and Viet Nam. The main objectives for cooperation are the comprehensive development and management of the water and relevant resources in the Mekong river basin.

MUlTilATERAl MEcHANisMs iN MEkoNG RivER AREA: SiMilARi-TiEs AND DiFFERENcEs

I. Similarities

Firstly， they are all sub-regional cooperation mechanisms with the Mekong river basin as the partner. In specific， they are all cooperation circles centered at lower Mekong countries （not including China）. In terms of international economic integration and regionalism， the lower Mekong countries are “hubs” while countries outside the basin are the “spokes”.

Secondly， it is interesting that all the lower Mekong countries have been involved in these multilateral cooperation mechanisms in a passive way. In other words， the lower Mekong countries have not been the “source of power”. In most cases， the non-Mekong basin countries proposed the cooperation and pushed forward the process of cooperation， while the lower Mekong countries followed. The content and financial support of cooperation have also been mainly provided by the non-Mekong basin countries.

Thirdly， all these multilateral mechanisms are loosely organized and flexible， overlapping with and open to one another. The multilateral mechanisms in the Mekong area maintain the basic principles of sovereignty supremacy and consensus through consultation， conforming to the features of the integration in the region or even within ASEAN and East Asia. All these multilateral mechanisms with flexibility should be open to one another in subjects and agendas of cooperation， or should even produce collective effect. Yet it is understandable that this feature does show itself obviously in all mechanisms， for there is not necessity for “integration”under normal circumstances. All the mechanisms basically maintain their own respective operation modes. However， out of some certain purposes，some forces may push forward the merging of a number of multilateral mechanisms， which may compete or even reject other mechanisms.

II. Differences

Firstly， all the mechanisms differ from one another in their basis. The LMC is based on Great Mekong subregional economic cooperation （GMS）. With a history of over 20 years， GMS has achieved rich accumulation in mechanism building and cooperation results. In comparison， the basis and regularity level of the Japan-Mekong，US-Mekong， ROK-Mekong and India-Mekong cooperation are both on a downward tendency.

Secondly， all the mechanisms are focused on different cooperation areas. The recent priority agenda of LMC consists of five areas， namely interconnection， industrial capacity， cross-border economy， water resources as well as agriculture and poverty reduction. Japan-Mekong cooperation is focused on official development aid and“values diplomacy”. The US-Mekong cooperation is focused on carrying out practical functional cooperation in the areas of environment， climate，healthcare， education， fighting against drugs and smuggling. ROK-Mekong cooperation is focused on infrastructure， IC technology， green growth，water resources development， agriculture and rural development as well as personnel training. India-Mekong cooperation is focused on free trade agreement and tourism.

Third， there are differences in input，which refer to relevant countries’ will or resolution for pushing forward the cooperation. With the highest definition of the Community of Common Destiny， LMC is expected to get the biggest input and be advanced at the highest speed. Japan has both the will and ability to challenge China in this regard， evidenced by its huge financial input year after year in the Mekong area. The US has made very limited input although it promised to invest huge amount. The ROK has built a framework as the first step， and carries out practical cooperation within its own capacity. India still stays on the stage of making commitment with very little practical action.

CoMpETiTioN AMoNG All MUl-TilATERAl MEcHANisMs iN ME-koNG BAsiN: HoW To STAND oUT？

China needs to set about on the following five aspects for the LMC to stand out among all the multilateral mechanisms:

First， there should be an accurate and practical definition for the LMC. What position is the LMC has in China’s global and neighborhood strategies？ What significance does it have for the “Belt and Road” initiative and the China-ASEAN cooperation？ In my view， China could explicitly define the LMC as an “updated version” of the GMS， both of which are important compositions of the deepening China-ASEAN cooperation. This definition not only takes account of the feelings and concerns of all outsiders， but also conforms to China’s strategic consideration of building the community of common destiny in the neighborhood by promoting the building of the “Belt and Road”.

Second， China should maintain an open and flexible attitude. As aforesaid， the LMC and the GMS are in a relationship of natural extension and updating， instead of the so-called“a fresh start” or “antagonistic”. All mechanisms， channels， cooperation agenda， project arrangements， research foundation and other contents should be able to effectively linked and updated. If this problem is not properly handled， it is very hard to imagine what chaotic situation could emerge concerning the mechanism，cost and project among others caused by the coexistence of the LMC and the GMS.

Third， China should make proper use of its distinctive advantages to build a foundation of common interests. On the one hand， we should make full use of the resources and channels of the new frameworks and platforms including the “Belt and Road”， AIIB，the Silk Road Fund， etc. On the other hand， we should make good use of the irreplaceable advantages such as the exclusiveness of the common borders between China and the lower Mekong countries， the leading role of China’s capital， technologies and production capacity， the attractiveness of our market consumption capability and the urgency of non-traditional security field to work together with the lower Mekong countries in building a network of common interests. All parties could build a Lancang-Mekong Community of Common Destiny based on the Community of Common Interests by deepening interdependency among one another.

Fourth， China needs to focus on the priority projects. At the moment，Viet Nam has much concern about deepening cooperation with Chinadue to the disputes over the South China Sea. Myanmar’s new government asks for a higher price on China’s strategies towards Myanmar or the Indian Ocean. All those result in more difficulties and uncertainties faced by China in terms of its cooperation with Viet Nam and Myanmar. Against this background， China may as well adopt a strategy of “N-X on multilateral platform”. That is to say， China could carry cooperation with some member states on matured fields and projects within the framework or in the name of multilateral mechanisms， instead of wait until all member states have reached agreement.

Fifth， China should set up a number of model projects with early achievements. On the first LMC Leaders’Meeting， Premier Li Keqiang made a series of proposals and commitments concerning promoting cooperation， including providing concessional loans amounting to 10 billion yuan （RMB）and credit loans totaling 10 billion yuan （RMB）， taking the Mekong area as the priority for spending South-South cooperation aid fund totaling 200 million US$， setting up a special fund for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and providing 300 million US$ in five years to support medium-andsmall-size cooperation projects， as well as providing government scholarships for 18000 students and training opportunities for 5000 people. At present，China should make joint efforts with all countries concerned to identify a number of “early achievement” projects as quickly as possible， on which all parties carry out pragmatic cooperation for substantial achievements，so as to form exemplary and leading effect. With all the efforts mentioned above， the LMC will stand head and shoulders above all the multilateral mechanisms in the Mekong River area.