Economy and industry
Thai Airways plans to resume direct flights to US next year
Thai Airways International plans to resume flights to the US west coast next year and add more destinations in China after taking a year off to achieve international safety compliance. The national carrier is also now energetically firing off marketing and sales gimmicks and clearing up ...
AMM49 voices concern about recent complicated situation in East Sea

The 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting took place in Laos’s capital city of Vientiane on July 24 with the participation of 10 Foreign Ministers from ASEAN member countries and the ASEAN Secretary General. The Vietnamese delegation to the meeting was led by Deputy Prime Minister and ...
Myanmar needs to scale up transport investment: ADB

The Myanmar needs to invest US$45 billion to $60 billion in transport projects over the next 15 years, to improve connectivity with neighbours and ensure equitable distribution of economic growth, Asian Development Bank officials have said. “Every year, Myanmar will need about $4 billion. This ...
China denies political conditions on aid to Cambodia
China said on 22 July its financial assistance to Cambodia is in no way dependent on that country’s support on diplomatic and political issues, such as Beijing’s dispute with other Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea. A Foreign Ministry statement faxed to The Associated Press ...
Bangkok admits inability to regulate new Lao dam
The Water Resources Department has admitted it is beyond the Thai government’s power to challenge the Pak Beng Dam project in Laos and the only way to review the project is through the Mekong River Commission. The National Human Rights Commission’s subcommittee on communal rights ...
One man’s fight to save the lake

In a bamboo stilt house surrounded by kayaks, bicycles and other trappings of nature tourism, Zwe Zaw Zaw Hein is teaching village children about the value of their local environment. The 22-year-old is one of around 30 young people involved in an eco-tourism initiative called Inn ...
Government, plantation managers trade blame

The managers of some of Cambodia’s most controversial agribusiness plantations on 21 July blamed their many land disputes on the government, accusing officials of failing to educate communities about the benefits of their giant farms. Rights groups blame economic land concessions for some of Cambodia’s worst problems, ...
Vietnam expected to export dairy products to China
Chinese agencies have said they are considering opening the market to Vietnam dairy exports through official channels. Domestic sources reported that in the talks with the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh requested ...
Myitsone and the failure of China’s ‘anti-ethno-politics’ approach

Northern Myanmar’s Myitsone mega-project failed because its Chinese proponents systematically dismissed Kachin and Burmese nationalism. The Chinese hydropower developers’ strategy was what I call “anti-ethno-politics”: when the state, NGOs, businesses, or other actors try to depoliticise sensitive questions about how their own activities clash with ...
SBV urges banks to support Mekong

Banks and credit institutions need to support the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta provinces, State Bank of Việt Nam Deputy Governor Đào Minh Tú has said. Speaking at a conference in Hậu Giang Province on 19 July to discuss developmental credit activities in the region, ...