Problems on the Mekong river are far from over

China has moved a step closer to becoming a major power in mainland Southeast Asia’s longest intra-nation region, now that its troops are patrolling the mighty Mekong River.

It is a China-led security scheme with neighbouring countries – the first in Chinese history – that will affect the overall strategic landscape in the region. The move has come after 13 Chinese crew members of two cargo boats were hijacked by a gang of bandits operating from the Burmese sector of the Golden Triangle late last year.

According to Thai officials, the Chinese crews refused to pay the pirates a “passage” fee. Then, in what appeared to be a staged incident, the bandits tossed about one million methamphetamine tablets on the boats and tipped off Thai security forces about drug-trafficking gangs. The Thai military fell for it and set up a blockade on the Mekong River inside its territorial waters.

But when the bodies of the 13 Chinese crew members began to surface from the water, the old explanation as to how the authorities came to know of the drugs had to make way for a new excuse. And so they blamed a Shan druglord, Naw Kham, known for leading similar raids in the past. 

The problem is that not many knew that Naw Kham works as a spy for the Thai military, overseeing security in the infamous Golden Triangle.

It was this very point that Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung wanted to expose; thus the decision to indict the men who were at the blockade that night when the two cargo boats entered Thai waters. 

Was it because his Pheu Thai Party has an axe to grind with the military?

Was he just trying to humiliate the soldiers for using bandits and drug-traffickers as spies in an area that is traditionally a no man’s land, even for the Burmese government soldiers who cannot access a number of areas under the control of ethnic armies like the Wa, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Karen, and other armed ethnic groups.

With regard to using Naw Kham, Thai soldiers in the far North see themselves as playing the same proxy games that China and Burma have been playing for decades. And so they question the motive of the Pheu Thai top dogs for going after the Pha Muang Task Force the way they have been.

China moved quickly following the massacre to work out a mechanism for better law enforcement and security cooperation among the four Mekong countries in that area. Beijing wanted a joint patrol but Bangkok will only go as far as a coordinated patrol. This means the Chinese security forces have to stop before entering Thailand’s territorial water.

However, Thailand agreed to a proposal calling for the establishment of a Combined Operations Centre in Guanlei, Xishuangbanna, that will act as the focal point for intelligence information about cargo ships travelling in and out of river ports, to coordinate patrols.

For centuries, the Mekong has served as the main transport route for people and goods from inland southwestern China, criss-crossing the heartland of Southeast Asia through Burma, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, down to the South China Sea via Vietnam. Chinese engineers in 2005 blasted rocks to clear the way for larger cargo ships from China.

But while regional leaders set their sights on a win-win trading scheme, they forget to look at the reality inside the Burmese sector of the Golden Triangle, where opium warlords and drug armies play for keeps. Robbing ships on the mighty Mekong is only the end result of failed governance on land.

If the countries in this region, including China, are serious about securing the safety of crews going up and down the Mekong River, they will have to address the political and security challenges in the Golden Triangle.

The security forces can travel up and down the river all they want, with all the firepower they have, but it won’t chase away the drug-trafficking problem. Bandits, drug armies and opium warlords will continue to lurk and look for an opportunity to strike. Just don’t blink. Those 13 deaths were just a sign of things to come.