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At Mekong Summit, All Roads Lead Beyond the Border

Top Stories | Upstream-Downstream | Mekong Region

VIENTIANE, Mar 31 (Newsmekong) - Cross-border highways were the talk of many at the Mekong Summit that ended here, even as a key link in the North-South corridor linking Kunming to Singapore was opened Monday and Mekong governments pledged to step up regional integration and cooperation over the next five years.

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Calling on Mekong Leaders

Top Stories | Environment | Mekong Region

Ounkeo Souksavanh

In the collection of views below, young people at the 3rd Greater Mekong Subregion Summit held in Vientiane, Laos on Mar.30-31, 2008 talk about what they’d like Mekong leaders to do.

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CAMBODIA: Acid Attacks Leave More than Scars

Top Stories | Infrastructure | Cambodia

Rithy Heng

 
Acid ScarsPHNOM PENH, Mar 4 (Newsmekong/IPS) – Within seconds after his jealous wife threw acid at him, Soum Bunnarith could hear nothing. He could not see it, but his eyes and his right ear had turned a dark, burnt shade.

   Meantime, the acid continued to crawl down his neck, arms and upper body, Bunnarith recalled of the incident that happened on Dec. 31, 2005. He was just about to leave his home in Sampov Meas district’s Kbal Hong village, Pursat at 7 a.m., when his wife threw a liter bottle of acid at him.

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China: Benign Bully of the Mekong?

Top Stories | Upstream-Downstream | Mekong Region

Johanna Son

 
Chinese road signs in Chiang Rai, Thailand underscore China's footprint in the regionSYDNEY, Oct 3 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Over the last decade or so, China’s deft use of soft power has seen South-east Asian neighbours’ view of it change from a looming threat to a largely friendly, if still imposing, giant to the north.

   But while that much is clear, what is not is whether China’s ‘kinder’ profile will allow countries downstream of the Mekong River it shares with Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia real opportunities to discuss the fate of this shared resource – and sensitive issues like hydropower construction on it.

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Border Ties Chip Away at Historical Hurts

Top Stories | Culture | Cambodia | Vietnam

Ung Chansophea

Cambodian workers cross the border to work in VietnamCambodian workers cross the border to work in Vietnam
SVAY CHRUM, Cambodia – A flurry of bicycles starts from 6 a.m. onwards in Chambak and Kruos communes in this district in Cambodia’s Svay Rieng province, on the border with Vietnam. Drivers pedal frantically toward the Tanou border post, named after the stream that separates the two countries.

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Despite Openness, Prejudices Persist

Top Stories | Culture | Cambodia | Vietnam

Ung Chansophea

despite openness, prejudices persist
 
Cambodia has buried the hatchet with its Vietnamese neighbour, but many scars remain today from centuries of conflict, and the occupation of the Kingdom during the decade that followed the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge by forces of the NUFSK (National United Front for the Salvation of Kampuchea) and soldiers from Hanoi. Today, the often-silent discrimination against the Vietnamese people has gotten the better of more than one mixed marriage between Cambodians and Vietnamese.

 

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Surrounded by Big Lakes, But Short of Water

Top Stories | Water | Cambodia | China

Yang Qing

With Er'hai, there would be no Dali.
In ancient times, Er'hai lake in Yunnan, China was known as Xi Er'he, Yeyu River, Yeyu Pool, Er'he, Kunmichuan and Kunming Pool. Legend has it that people began to live near the lake after the hot sea cooled and marine life started to grow. It is said that Er'hai came into being after a volcanic eruption. The volcano's mouth of the volcano closed to form a pot, and water filled this pot. Then, organisms began to appear. 
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Rapid Urbanisation Leaves Small People Behind

Top Stories | Mobility | Cambodia | Vietnam

Liu Tao

rapid urbanisation leaves small people behind 1.1
 
Vietnam and Cambodia – two countries along the Mekong River. Against the backdrop of globalisation and in pursuit of their market reforms, the governments of these two nations have placed their sights on urbanising their cities. Saigon and Phnom Penh have naturally become the focus of this development. The changes these two cities have gone through, though at different speeds, bring similar difficulties.

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Need Medical Services? Go to China

Top Stories | China | Vietnam

Nguyen Thu Tam

Need medical services
 
HE KOU, China – Lao Cai in northern Vietnam and this Chinese town across the border are separated only by a 100-metre bridge across the Nam Thi River. Every day, thousands of people cross the border, including hundreds who come to seek medical treatment although their ‘book’, a type of travel document, states ‘business’ as the reason for their travel.

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MEKONG REGION: Good for Business, But. . .

Top Stories | Culture | Laos | Vietnam

Nguyen Dai Duong

Ho
 
QUANG TRI, Vietnam – Ho Long’s family farm has 2,000 banana trees, from which they can pick some 20 bunches of the fruit each day. But unlike other families, Ho Long does not sell the harvested bananas in his mountain farm. Instead, twice a day, he hops on his Minsk motorbike and drives some five kilometres to the crossroads to sell their produce.

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