CityNews – March 16th, China releases water to help severe drought.
Lu Kang, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, announced on Tuesday 15th of March that China has released water from Jinghong Dam to help alleviate water shortage in countries downstream which are suffering from the severe drought. China will release water until April 10th to help Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is believed that China is trying to make a good relationship with neighbourhood countries.
Vietnam’s government has asked China to release water from Jinghong Dam to relieve the severe which has affected its country. So far more than 1 million rice fields in Vietnam and 750,000 rai of fruit farms have been abandoned due to drought. Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, all of which are also affected due to the El Niño phenomenon, will also benefit from this release.
Mekong River which starts in the high planes of Tibet, passes through South-East Asia, before spilling out into the South China Sea. The river supports million of lives along is way.
Between 1994 and 2009 China built six dams along the Mekong River which has severely affected the South East Asian region, but another seven dams are in the making. China has come up against much international condemnation for these projects.