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25. The GMS Co-operation within the ASEAN Context
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
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126 Kavi Chongkittavorn By: ROS Size: 7.5" x 10.25" J/No: 03-14474 Fonts: New Baskerville 25. THE GMS CO-OPERATION WITHIN THE ASEAN CONTEXT KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN Reprinted in abridged form from Kavi Chongkittavorn, “The Greater Mekong Subregion: Working Together with ASEAN”, in The Greater Mekong Subregion and ASEAN: From Backwaters to Headwaters, edited by Kao Kim Hourn and Jeffrey A. Kaplan (Phnom Penh: Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, 2000), pp. 25– 32, by permission of the author and the publisher. During the Cold War period, the Mekong River was formally referred to as a dividing line between the communists and the non-communists in the continental Southeast Asia. On one side, it was the lower riparian countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and on the other side, Thailand, which stood alone by itself. At the time, China and Myanmar, the upper riparian states, were considered remote to be part of the overall scheme of things, both were still isolated from the rest of the world. Cooperation among the lower riparian countries of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand had its ups and downs, depending on the political pulse of the day. The end of the Vietnam War, the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia and the resolution of the Vietnam-China conflict, among others, have led to more economic interaction. In the post-Cold War, the Mekong River has acquired a new meaning. It is now being labeled as the river that unites all the riparian countries both at lower and upper sections. Unlike the exclusive nature of the past, now the Mekong River has an inclusive character. China and Myanmar have been brought into the Mekong mainstream cooperation. At the ASEAN Summit in December 1995, Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced that a plan, based on a Malaysian idea, for an ASEAN coordinated Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (MBDC) initiative that would link for the first time the non-Mekong and Mekong members of ASEAN together. Two ambiguous plans were proposed — the EastWest Corridor (EWC) in the Mekong Basin and the Trans-Asian railways. These huge projects came at the time when the ASEAN countries recognized the importance of development in the GMS region and its 025 AR Ch 25 22/9/03, 12:43 PM 126 The GMS Co-operation Within the ASEAN Context 127 By: ROS Size: 7.5" x 10.25" J/No: 03-14474 Fonts: New Baskerville massive potential. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also drew up many plans to develop the GMS, focusing on the construction of a road and transport network through the region and expansion of energy generation by harnessing the hydroelectric potential of the Mekong River. At the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December 1997, the ASEAN leaders for the first time agreed to intensify and expand sub-regional cooperation in existing and new sub-regional growth areas. Their intention was later contained in the ASEAN Vision 2020, which the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN-ISIS) played an important role in giving unbiased inputs into the policy channel. A year later, when the ASEAN foreign ministers met in Manila in July, they reiterated the need to expedite the implementation of the identified programmes and projects. Up until now, the GMS countries are able to focus on projects that they consider feasible and would benefit them the most. For instance, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand work hard to realize the East-West Corridor because both Thailand and Laos want to have the shortest possible exit way to the South China Sea. Two projects related to the East-West Corridor have made satisfactory progress — the construction of the second Mekong Bridge in Mudaharn in the northeastern part of Thailand and the road network . The second bridge and road networks are part of the so-called East-West Corridor Transport Project (EWCTP) linking northeastern Thailand to northwestern Cambodia , central and lower Laos to central Vietnam. Funding has come from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF), ADB and the assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). To ensure that ASEAN is firmly embedded in the Mekong development effort, Vietnam has recently proposed that the grouping should formulate a new cooperative framework for comprehensive development to assist the peoples living along the East-West Corridor. Top on the agenda would be the eradication of poverty and measures to reduce the gap between the rich and poor countries in the GMS. ASEAN has recently set up an Eminent Persons...