The Impact of China’s Dams on the Mekong River Basin: Governance, Sustainable Development, and the Energy-Water Nexus

ABSTRACT China has made Yunnan Province its ‘Southern Gateway’ and the hub of its transportation corridors and energy-water nexus in Southeast Asia by incorporating the Greater Mekong Subregion into its ‘Belt and Road Initiative.’ China’s Lancang River (Upper Mekong) hydropower development generates costs and benefits for downstream countries. China dominates the Greater Mekong Subregion through institutional development, technological expertise, and financial investment; yet, despite asymmetrical power relationships, China’s Mekong neighbors guard their sovereignty and maintain substantial bargaining power. China is most successful when it embraces the ‘preferences’ it shares with them. An ongoing debate likewise undermines Beijing’s dominance among China’s stakeholders, who contest the developmental model versus the environmental sustainability model, as well as the meaning of ‘environmental protection.’