The U.S. Biden administration has expressed concern about the recent sudden up-and-down swings in Mekong River water levels and said it will continue to monitor the situation along some of the monitoring mechanisms the former Trump administration helped establish.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement Tuesday (Feb. 23, 2021), “We share the concerns of the Mekong Basin countries and the Mekong River Commission about the recent rapid fluctuations and declines in Mekong water levels and join in calling on the Chinese government to share necessary hydrologic data, including information on upstream dam operations, in a timely manner. It is necessary for China to comply with its commitments and consult with downstream countries.”
China has so far built 11 hydropower plants on the Lancang River in the upper Mekong, some with large reservoirs that store large amounts of river water.
The State Department statement added, “The United States will continue to provide support to governments and communities in the Mekong River Basin through the Mekong-US Partnership mechanism. The Mekong Hydrologic Data Initiative program, the Mekong Dam Monitoring website and other tools put real data in the hands of the people who need it most.”
The Mekong-U.S. Partnership Facility, the Mekong Hydrologic Data Initiative program and the Mekong Dam Monitoring website, all of which Price mentioned in his statement, are programs that were funded and established by the former Trump Administration during his Time in office.
When the Mekong Water and Dam Monitoring website (https://monitor.mekongwater.org) was officially launched on Dec. 15, 2020, David R. Stilwell, then assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that the key to solving the Mekong’s water problems was information transparency. If China won’t provide the information, then let a project like the Mekong Water Monitoring website do so. You can’t cover up the truth,” he said.
Stalwell also predicted at the time that the U.S. would continue to focus on the Mekong River Basin water issue regardless of who was in the White House, because it was a matter of U.S. interest.
Chinese officials say the U.S. funding of the Mekong water monitoring program is a malicious provocation by extraterritorial countries.
On Nov. 30 of last year, China made a high-profile announcement about the official launch of the “Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Information Sharing Platform website,” saying it would share information proactively, but did not provide the website’s URL. A search of the “Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Information Sharing Platform website” on Google, a site commonly used worldwide, and Baidu, a site commonly used by Chinese, shows several reports in Chinese official media about the authorities’ announcement of the launch of the information-sharing weekday website, but not the website itself.
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