Economy and industry
Giving a dam about the Mekong
Originating in the Tibetan highlands and running through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the Mekong and its tributaries provide water, food and income for 60 million people. The longest river in Southeast Asia is home to the world’s largest inland fishery. It ...
Sheith Khidhir
Coal-fired power plant development must come with environmental protection
Phạm Trọng Thực, deputy director general of the Industrial Safety Technique and Environmental Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, talks to Công Thương (Trade and Commerce) newspaper on the national plan to develop coal-fired power plants What is the current state of Vietnamese coal power ...
China Digs Deep in Landlocked Laos
Laos, a country of 6.8 million people roughly the size of China’s southern autonomous region of Guangxi, is often overlooked in China’s outreach to Southeast Asia. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the upgrading of Chinese-Lao relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and ...
Asia Rice: Vietnam rates gain on fears Mekong water woes may hurt crops
Rice export prices in Vietnam rose for the first time in six weeks as domestic buying picked up and fears of water scarcity in the country’s rice bowl grew, while weaker local currencies weighed on rates in other top Asian exporting hubs. In Vietnam, rates for ...
Weak logistics services cause great losses to Mekong Delta exporters
The poor logistics services in the Mekong Delta have pushed up the costs of export goods, especially farm produce, and caused great losses to export firms, it was reported at a workshop on enhancing connectivity to improve value chains of farm produce and aquatic products ...
Is China meeting its international environmental and human rights obligations on BRI?
On Thursday, April 25, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation in Beijing. Heads of state and other senior government officials from 37 governments will attend, including representatives from ...
Oliver Ward
New China-Laos joint project to power up electricity distribution in Laos' capital
The new 500 kV and 230 kV transmission lines to be installed in Laos’ capital Vientiane, a joint project between Lao and Chinese companies, will ensure more Lao people to have sufficient power, officials here have said. The new power lines will transmit electricity from hydropower ...
All aboard Thailand’s decentralization train
Thailand has made scant progress over the past three decades in spreading power and national budgets outside of the capital Bangkok, a core issue behind the nation’s yawning wealth divide. But now there is a slim hope that the decentralization process has begun, and it has ...
Peter Janssen
Illegal Charcoal Trade Wrecks Myanmar’s Bulwark Against Cyclones
The depletion of mangroves in southern Myanmar is impacting local fisheries near the island villages and playing havoc with the mangrove forest that protect the coastline from extreme weather events. The illegal charcoal trade persists due to a lack of law enforcement and oversight in Myanmar ...
Wudan Yan
Thailand, Cambodia ready to relaunch rail link
Thailand looks set to re-establish a rail link with Cambodia 45 years after the two countries terminated cross-border train service. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Cambodian Premier Hun Sen will will preside over a ceremony to reopen the track connecting Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo with Cambodia’s ...