million, as well as setting up an LMC special fund to provide US$300 million in five years to support small and medium-sized cooperation projects within the region. (Wang, 2018) China has also promised to support poverty alleviation in these countries with US$200 million in aid and to prepare another US$300 million to fund small and medium-sized cooperation projects in the next five years. (Liu, 2016) These funds span connectivity, production capacity, cross-border economic cooperation, water resources management, as well as agriculture and poverty reduction, benefitting tens of millions of people living on the waterway (Xinhua News Agency, 2018b).
Under the framework of the LMC cooperation, economic relations between China and the Mekong sub-region have drastically expanded. For example, in the first 10 months of 2017, trade between China and the other five countries in the Lancang–Mekong area reached US$17.76 billion, up by 15.6% on the same period in the previous year. In the same period, China’s investment in the five countries reached US$2.68 billion, up 22.3% on the previous year (Xinhua News Agency, 2018e).
Taking into account the history and the present situation, the infrastructure construction of the Mekong sub-region lags seriously behind and has become a major obstacle to the socio-economic development of the region. Therefore, improving infrastructure has become one of the main goals of the LMC to boost regional development. With the development of LMC, some major projects are moving forward smoothly, such as the construction of the China–Laos Railway as well as the China–Thailand Railway. At the same time, river regulation in the Mekong River has also improved its transportation capacity. Now the river can accommodate ships weighing up to 420 tons, while in the past the river could only allow boats weighing less than 50 tons. According to statistical data, about 97,000 tons of cargo were transported through Guanlei Port in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 45.9%. With growing inter-governmental cooperation, sailing along the river has become much safer (Xinhua News Agency, 2017).
As social and cultural exchanges are also major areas of the LMC, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the Mainland ASEAN countries have been strengthened. To this effect, to promote social and cultural exchanges and to accelerate human resource cultivation, the Chinese government has provided 18,000 scholarships and 5,000 exchange internships for member countries (Teo & Tan, 2016).
Because of the different situations of the member states, their expectations in regard to the LMC are also different. Thus, in the process of implementing the platform of the cooperation mechanism, China has focused on precise policies according to the situation of each country in order to address the development needs and strategies of various countries and to provide better assistance to these countries.
Thailand was considered to have had an important role in creating the LMC in the year 2014. As a country that relies significantly on the benefits of the Mekong River, Thailand uses the river as a water resource for agricultural use, industrial use, and for creating electricity. Thailand consistently supports a closer relationship between the Mekong sub-regions in order to support a closer and healthier mechanism between the countries, creating a peaceful future together. Additionally, under the military government of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the relationship between Thailand and China has become closer, both politically and economically. China has invested significantly in Thailand; in 2016, there were 69 projects that were supported by China, with investment in those projects alone reaching 242,888 million Baht — a 120% increase from 2015. Thus, China has become the second largest investor in Thailand, second only to Japan (Thai News Agency, 2016).
Thailand views this cooperation framework as a common theme in the river basin, being the driving force behind the development of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. It is the stage for Thailand to play a prominent role in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. China is also fully aware of Thailand’s aspirations and respects its position and role in the cooperation of the Mekong sub-region. So, the First LMC Leaders’ Meeting held in Sanya, China, was co-chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Furthermore, Thailand also wants to push the cooperation framework to be more modern, with an emphasis on technology and innovation. This is to support the region as a whole by strengthening forces from within and to connect the region to the global market. Moreover, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is another key union for economic and development benefit of the region, connecting the Mekong sub-region and China. Thailand views this framework as an important mechanism to push the region as an economic hub and to build sustainable development using advanced tools. This is in line with Thailand’s policies and projects, namely, the “Thailand 4.0” policy, the Eastern Special Economic Zone (EEC), and the Thailand policy +1 (Zhou, 2018). The objective is to develop a strong resource management among the countries and to improve the water distribution among the involved countries based on mutual needs and responsibilities. This will help to strengthen the agricultural sector of each country and will lead to sustainable development of all the countries in the region. The collaboration mechanism will also promote exchanges and cooperation on culture and humanity. The exchanges between China and Thailand have increased significantly in the past year, with over 90 million Chinese tourists in Thailand and over 3,000 students studying in Thailand. Thailand also has approximately 20,000 students studying in China — the highest number of foreign students in that country.
Thus, it can be seen that with the support of China, Thailand has played an important role in the Mekong sub-region cooperation framework and will continue to be one of the major forces in the successful development of the region.
Even though Laos is a small country with no access to the ocean, it is also a major player in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. The Mekong River is a very important river in Laos. The Mekong River and its tributaries in Laos account for 35% of the total flow. Laos uses a lot of of hydroelectric power resources to produce hydroelectric power. There are currently 46 hydroelectric dams in Laos, with still more being constructed. Laos expects to build 100 hydroelectric dams by 2020 (Thansetthakij News, 2017). The exportation of hydroelectric power is one of the major revenue sources for the country. In Laos, the proportion of electricity exported is more than 70%. The production of hydroelectric power in the Mekong region is a solution to reduce poverty. Therefore, the management of the Mekong River is very important to the Laotian government. Furthermore, China is the country with the largest proportion of investment in hydroelectric dams in Laos. The investment aid from China comes in through assistance in project construction as well as through supplying construction materials. The investment companies are large state-owned companies owned by the Chinese government, such as Sinohydro, China International Water and Electric Corporation, China National Heavy Machinery Corporation, and China’s state-owned subsidiary, China Southern Power Grid, which holds stock in many provincial companies (Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, 2011). The participation of Lao PDR in the Mekong Cooperation Framework has contributed greatly to the cooperation and relationship between Laos and China in many respects, in addition to Mekong River water resources management. Laos has also harvested tangible benefits from the LMC mechanism, including those in human resource development, infrastructure construction, public healthcare, and poverty reduction. Additionally, another important aspect is that Laos is a landlocked country and the Mekong River is a major link for Laos. Under the current framework, China has approved the development of various projects for Laos. At the second LMC Leaders’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, China approved 13 projects for Laos under the Lancang–Mekong fund, which are worth more than US$3.49 million. Moreover, the project will help promote the socio-economic development of Laos, and thus further strengthen ties between Laos and China within the Lancang–Mekong mechanism (Xinhua News Agency, 2018c).
China also attaches great importance to Laos’s position in the cooperation of the LMC. After the Second Leaders’ Meeting in Cambodia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed his belief that in the next two years, as the co-chair countries, China and Laos would work closely to implement the consensus reached in January at the Summit and would vigorously plan for the next step (Xinhua News Agency, 2018f).
The aim of Cambodia in the Mekong sub-region cooperation is
