ASEAN and the Mekong: A Functional Approach

Abstract

ASEAN and the Mekong:A Functional Approach Le Dinh Tinh (bio) Until recently the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had largely marginalized Mekong River issues. The argument against including Mekong concerns in the association's agenda originates from a geographic factor: Southeast Asia consists of both maritime and mainland areas, and for a long time countries in the former grouping did not perceive the Mekong River as an important variable affecting their security and development or that of the entire region. But things have changed. In 2020 the Mekong made its way onto the official ASEAN agenda for the first time. This essay explains why the Mekong has assumed this new sense of importance to ASEAN and how it can be approached from a functionalist perspective for the betterment of the strategic and practical interests of the region as a whole and the Mekong subregion itself. Why the Mekong Increasingly Matters The Mekong is one of the biggest and most essential rivers in the world. The livelihoods of millions of people depend on the resources the river provides on a daily basis. Although the subregion is low in its level of development, foreign investors have considered it an attractive destination. The ASEAN economies have become more united through the organization's economic integration schemes such as the Initiative of ASEAN Integration, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 (MPAC 2025), of which the Mekong subregion is an integral part. Furthermore, severe nontraditional security challenges such as water security and climate change have turned the subregion into a hotspot and a top policy priority for the riparian states and their partners. What is new is the increasing great-power rivalry, namely between the United States and China, that has engulfed the subregion. This section further examines these dynamics. First, the Mekong basin supports the livelihoods of around sixty-six million people, equivalent to 10% of ASEAN's population, including "most of the population of Laos and Cambodia, one-third of Thailand's [End Page 63] sixty-five million, and one-fifth of Vietnam's ninety million people."1 Not until recently have maritime countries such as Singapore and the Philippines, for example, realized that their economies depend a great deal on the Mekong. Singapore has sizable investments in the Mekong subregion,2 while the Philippines imports most of its rice from the subregion.3 Second, despite starting from a low level of development, the subregion consists of some of the fastest-growing economies in the Asia-Pacific. Vietnam's GDP growth rates averaged 6.8% during 2016–20. Cambodia registered a rate of more than 7% during 2018–19, only slowing in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. During that same 2016–20 period, the Laotian economy expanded by more than 5.5%. The Mekong subregion is also connected to China—the second-biggest economy in the world—and this brings a lot of potential. For this reason, it is attractive to foreign investors.4 Third, as a group, ASEAN comprises the fifth-largest economy in the world, with the promise of becoming both a single production base and market. However, there are different speeds and levels of economic development within ASEAN, which has pushed regional leaders to adopt the thinking that for the region to prosper sustainably and make the most of economies of scale, narrowing the gap between the regional economies is necessary. For example, MPAC 2025 takes into account subregional arrangements. In other words, for the plan to work, the Mekong subregion must play an integral part. The same logic could be applied to trade agreements within ASEAN (such as the ASEAN Free Trade Area) and between ASEAN and its partners (such as RCEP and bilateral free trade agreements). Fourth, almost all the emerging nontraditional security challenges currently facing the world find expression in the Mekong subregion, among [End Page 64] them being pandemics, climate change, and water security. Several recent studies have even made the extreme prediction that the Mekong could dry up by the middle of the 21st century.5 In Vietnam the Mekong River is called Cuu Long, or "Nine Dragons," representing the nine branches of...