A decade of Lancang-Mekong cooperation: Forging ahead together towards a shared future

A reception marking the 10th anniversary of the first Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting is held in Beijing, March 23. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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The Lancang-Mekong nourishes our six nations and binds us closely together. Ten years ago, on March 23, we officially launched the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), sowing the seeds of solidarity, collective strengths, and mutually beneficial cooperation among regional countries. Under the guidance of President Xi Jinping and leaders of Mekong countries, the six member countries have embraced the LMC culture of equality, sincerity, mutual assistance, and kinship, acted in the LMC spirit of development first, equal consultation, pragmatism and efficiency, and openness and inclusiveness, and created the LMC speed, with progress and results delivered daily, monthly and annually. Thanks to such efforts, the LMC has grown from a seed to a towering tree, setting an example for the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Over the past decade, we have linked our future more closely together. Facing changes unseen in a century, our six countries have forged ahead hand in hand, realised full coverage in building bilateral communities with a shared future, and become good neighbours, good friends and good partners sharing weal and woe and supporting each other in times of need.

Over the past decade, we have gained more robust momentum for development. Trade between China and the five Mekong countries has surpassed $500 billion, an increase of 150% from a decade ago. The dedication and hard work of government departments and various localities of our six countries have produced fruitful cooperation results.

Over the past decade, we have forged a stronger underpinning for security. Our six countries have carried out the Safe Lancang-Mekong Operation, and made concerted efforts in disaster prevention and mitigation and public health, providing effective protection for the lives and property of people in the region. China has shared the Lancang River’s hydrological information with downstream countries to help with flood and drought prevention and response.

Over the past decade, we have deepened people-to-people exchanges. The Lancang-Mekong Visa was launched. Small and beautiful livelihood programmes such as the LMC Bumper Harvest projects and the Lancang-Mekong Sweet Spring Action have delivered impressive cluster effects. The people of our six countries are visiting one another more frequently, strengthening the bonds of cultural exchange and mutual understanding.

Looking back over the past decade, we see three principles have been essential to the robust development of the LMC: first, upholding neighbourliness, friendship, and a shared future; second, focusing on development to serve the people; and third, pursuing innovation and breaking new ground.

Right now, the world is entering a period of turbulence. Hegemonism and power politics are asserting themselves and dealing a heavy blow to the international order. Meanwhile, China just concluded the Two Sessions and officially launched the 15th Five-Year Plan, providing much-needed stability for our region. It is important that we better synergise our development strategies, jointly build an “LMC 2.0”, and demonstrate the relevance of the LMC for our times. This will contribute to long-term stability, security, development, and prosperity of our region, and set an LMC example for global governance.

We should pursue unity and cooperation in the LMC. We should carry forward the Asian values of peace, cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, and accelerate the establishment of an LMC International Secretariat, so as to boost the building of a Lancang-Mekong community with a shared future.

We should pursue openness and win-win outcomes in the LMC. We should press ahead with infrastructure connectivity among our countries, further explore the Multi-Nation, Multi-Park cooperation, deepen cooperation along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and jointly build the LMC Economic Development Belt.

We should pursue green and innovation-driven development in the LMC. We should deepen the development of the Lancang-Mekong Innovation Corridor, advance cooperation in digital economy, artificial intelligence, sci-tech innovation, and ecological governance, promote investment in new energy, build regional green value chains, and foster green industrial clusters in the region.

We should pursue mutual learning among civilisations in the LMC. We should speed up the development of the Lancang-Mekong Tourism Cities Cooperation Alliance, continue to deepen cooperation among the media outlets and think tanks, amplify the benefits delivered by the LMC Special Fund projects, and step up personnel and youth exchanges among our six countries, so that friendship will be passed down from generation to generation.

We should pursue peace and tranquility in the LMC. We should strengthen cooperation on whole-basin governance, share upstream and downstream hydrological information, step up efforts to combat cross-border crimes such as online gambling and telecom fraud, and ensure the success of the Safe Lancang-Mekong Operation and the Mekong River Joint Patrol and Law Enforcement Operation. By doing so, we will create a safe environment for building a community with a shared future.

Since the very inception of the LMC, we have held the same view that our cooperation should not be “shoptalk” but “bulldozers”. With a commitment to putting people first, we should work to deliver real benefits for the people of our six countries. Standing at a new starting point, China will follow the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness on neighbourhood diplomacy, and work with the five Mekong countries to usher in a new golden decade of the LMC. Together, let us build a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful, and amicable home, and make our contribution to peace and development in our region and the wider world.

Wang Yi is a Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee
And Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China.

-Khmer Times-
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