| Summary: | The Mekong is one of the greatest transnational rivers in Asia and is an important resource shared between six countries – China, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The Mekong river basin faces today a number of economic, political and environmental challenges, especially as far as management of its huge hydropower potential is concerned. This issue is very sensitive in all Southeast Asian countries (from Burma to Vietnam), but they all have to deal with what happens upstream, beyond the frontiers of the People’s Republic of China. To sustain its economic and industrial growth, China needs natural resources and energy, but at the same time as stipulated in the 12th Five-Year Plan, China has to get onto a more sustainable development path, by giving a priority to the use of “greener” energy sources, including hydropower. Beijing government has set targets to double its hydropower capacity by 2020, and the full-scale development of the Mekong river hydropower potential is an important milestone towards achieving this ambition. Beijing considers the construction of dams on the Lancang Jiang (Chinese section of the Mekong) as entirely Chinese national or even Yunnan province regional problem rather than an international issue. This attitude poses serious problems within the other riparian countries. Based on the analysis of Chinese official discourses and academic publications, this article will provide an overview of Mekong conflict with the focus on the strategies and policies used by Beijing to deal with the issue, and will discuss the role that Mekong hydropower development plays in the regional energy security, peace and stability.
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