The Mekong region boasts rich mineral deposits, yet foreign investment flows are expected to remain low due to political uncertainty, resource nationalisation sentiment and poor infrastructure.
Category: Mekong
Will new technologies help or harm developing countries?
Technology reduces developing countries’ comparative advantage in traditionally labor-intensive manufacturing (and other) activities, and decreases their gains from trade.
Tokyo goes it alone in support of Myanmar and Cambodia
Japan is digging in deeper in support of Myanmar and Cambodia even as the U.S. and Europe ramp up criticism of human rights violations, choosing to preserve its influence in the region by playing an alternative to China’s economic might.
Who Controls the Tap? Addressing Water Security in Asia
China has also dammed and now controls the flow of the Mekong River; complaints about the Mekong have been muffled, partially because China has little to fear from these smaller countries.
Defending China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Don’t fear Western “debt-trap diplomacy” accusations, as Chinese funding comes with no political strings attached.
Japan and Mekong nations to push 150 Southeast Asia projects
As for the ODA projects, dubbed “Tokyo Strategy 2018,” they will focus on three main areas — effective connectivity, people-centered societies as well as environment and disaster management.”
New US Agency Offers Asian Countries Development Finance Alternative to China: Experts
The US$60 billion, Washington-based Global Innovation Fund, is a U.S. effort “to more directly compete with China in these developing countries.”
Sino-Japan rivalry intensifies in Asia’s growth region
While China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been in the news for a while, Japan is slowly funding the building of supplementary trade corridors in the Mekong region.
Japan and Mekong countries to boost economic cooperation
But what Mekong countries want seems to be cooperation, not confrontation or competition, between Tokyo and Beijing.
1.5 degree ambition demands radical change, UN warns
It will need fundamental change to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees, but not doing so will cost much more, warns Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.