enhance the overall design and long-term planning and to build a multi-layered cooperation structure and other mechanisms;
3.To stick to the philosophy of openness and inclusiveness and to complement and coordinate development and to intensify exchanges of experience with the existing mechanisms on sub-regional cooperation (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, 2015a).
The meeting produced the LMC Concept Paper to establish the framework, which would be submitted to the First Foreign Ministers’ Meeting for endorsement.
The First LMC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting took place in the city of Jinghong, Yunnan, China, on November 12, 2015, and was organized and co-chaired by Thailand. The meeting issued a joint press communiqué marking the official establishment of the LMC framework. The communiqué of the First LMC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting indicated a consensus and the outcomes reached during the meeting. It adopted the LMC Concept Paper, which specified the objectives, principles, framework mechanisms, and major areas of cooperation, agreeing to establish a multi-layered LMC structure and to hold the First LMC Leaders’ Meeting (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, 2015b).
Creating a framework for international cooperation is full of complexity and requires a good system, necessitating consensus from every member country. In some cases it makes the establishment of a cooperation framework difficult and slow. However, for the LMC, the establishment and progression have been quite unique and effective. It took just over a year for the cooperation to take shape from the initial proposal and planning, which is impressive. Since the beginning of 2015, multiple consultations, including work group meetings, senior diplomatic officials’ meetings, and foreign ministers’ meetings have been held in many places, from Beijing to Chiang Mai, Thailand; from Jinghong in Yunnan Province to Sanya in Hainan Province, China. During the preparation of the mechanism, the six countries have showed effective coordination, willingness to cooperate, inclusive negotiation attitudes, and harmonious interaction (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, 2016).
The First LMC Leaders’ Meeting was successfully held on March 23, 2016 in Sanya, China’s Hainan Province, and brought together Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, Vice President of Myanmar Sai Mauk Kham, and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh. The summit was held with the theme of “Shared river, Shared future” and announced that the LMC’s practical cooperation would be carried out through three cooperation pillars, namely, (1) Political and Security issues, (2) Economic and Sustainable Development, and (3) Social Cultural and People-to-People exchanges. This meeting also discussed a wide range of issues concerning the Mekong region, including political issues, economic cooperation, security, the environment, and cultures of the Mekong countries. This meeting concluded with three output documents consisting of: (1) The Sanya Declaration of the 1st LMC Leaders’ Meeting; (2) Joint Statement of the Production Capacity Cooperation of the LMC Countries; (3) Joint List of the LMC Early Harvest Projects.
The Sanya Declaration contains 26 points, ranging from cooperating to fight non-traditional security threats such as transnational crime and terrorism to enhancing transport connectivity. More than 40 projects are listed under the early harvest scheme, which allows the countries in the basin to begin projects such as a water utility monitoring system at the Mekong Mainstream and Information Centre. The leaders agreed to hold an LMC Leaders’ Meeting once every two years and an LMC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting once a year to conduct policy planning and coordination for cooperation. The joint list, along with the Sanya Declaration and the Joint Statement on Production Capacity Cooperation among Lancang–Mekong Countries, laid a solid foundation and charted the course for LMC development.
The Second LMC Leaders’ Meeting was held on January 10, 2018, in Phnom Penh in the Kingdom of Cambodia, with the theme of “Our River of Peace and Sustainable Development” to chart the future course of the LMC into the next decade. The meeting endorsed two outcome documents: the Phnom Penh Declaration and the Five-Year Plan of Action (2018–2022). The Phnom Penh Declaration reflects the leaders’determination to utilize the LMC to achieve its goals in social and economic development for people in the Mekong sub-region. The Five-Year Plan of Action 2018–2022 has been formulated in accordance with documents including the Sanya Declaration adopted at the first LMC Leaders’ Meeting, which aims to contribute to the economic and social development of sub-regional countries, enhancing the well-being of the people, narrowing the development gap within the region, and building a Community with a Shared Future of Peace and Prosperity among the Lancang–Mekong Countries. We can say that the Five-Year Plan of Action not only points the way for the development of the LMC mechanism but also paints a detailed blueprint for the specific implementation and progress of cooperation matters.
3.3.The Opportunities Given to the Mekong Sub-region Countries of the LMC
The LMC mechanism, despite being a novel idea when it comes to cooperation among the countries in the Mekong basin, has yielded fruitful results and achieved better-than-expected outcomes. It is entering a phase of further growth from the initial phase of nurturing and has demonstrated a “Lancang–Mekong speed and efficiency” (Xinhua News Agency, Lancang–Mekong Cooperation — A Bid to Build Community of Shared Future, 2018).
First, the LMC has a very clear and concrete goal. Since the official launch of the LMC mechanism in March 2016, it has established a “3+5” mechanism of cooperation, referring to the three cooperation pillars — political and security issues, economic and sustainable development, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges — and the five key priority areas of connectivity, production capacity, cross-border economic cooperation, water resources, agriculture, and poverty reduction (Fei & Lu, 2018). These are in line with the wishes and needs of the Mainland ASEAN countries. Second, the organization of the LMC is rapidly improving the mechanism of construction and the LMC’s institutional platform building has made steady progress, with a four-tiered dialogue mechanism at the different levels in place consisting of meetings among leaders, foreign ministers, senior officials, and working groups (Xinhua News Agency, 2018f). Third, the regional cooperation projects have quickly achieved concrete results. By the end of 2017, most of the 45 early harvest projects identified at the first LMC leaders’ meeting and the 13 initiatives put forward by China at the second LMC foreign ministers’ meeting have been completed or have made substantive progress (Xinhua News Agency, 2018e).
The LMC mechanism has produced better-than-expected progress over the past two years as the countries moved forward with the principle of equality and inclusiveness, having development as a priority, and defining the LMC culture with equality, sincerity, mutual assistance, and kinship. “The reason why the Lancang–Mekong cooperation mechanism has enjoyed rapid development is that the mechanism accords with the six nations’ common willingness to enhance all-win cooperation and the trend of regional economic integration,” just as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “It has shown strong vitality since it was born” (Xinhua News Agency, 2018f).
Undoubtedly, the member countries of the LMC, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China, are fully aware of the opportunities that this cooperation mechanism brings to them.
The main reason why China advocates the establishment of the LMC platform is to promote the development of the lower Mekong region and to share the fruits and experiences of China’s economic development. To this end, China, as the main provider of funding for this cooperation mechanism, has delivered substantial financial assistance to the region. Since the two years from the first LMC Leaders’ Meeting in 2016, China has pledged, under the LMC framework, to provide concessional loans of up to 10 billion Yuan (US$1.6 billion) and credit loans totaling another 10 billion Yuan to promote industrial capacity cooperation and infrastructure construction within the region. Additionally, China is committed to prioritizing the Mekong area for spending in the South–South
