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Read this report in:   THAI |  MANDARIN

BANGKOK, Dec 22 (IPS) — China's plans to dam South-east Asia's second largest river are coming under fire from environmental groups in the region, who say that Beijing is again showing little concern for downstream countries that fear its adverse effects.

In an effort to thwart this Chinese venture — to construct 13 dams on the Salween River — a broad spectrum of non-governmental groups have launched a campaign in December 2003 to expose the flaws in this 'development' scheme.

Before damming the Salween, called the Nu river in China, the Chinese government needs to conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) not just internally but in downstream countries, says Chainarong Sretthachau, director of the South-east Asia Rivers Network (SEARIN), a regional environmental lobby based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.

That neither has been done in the two downstream countries, Thailand and Burma, became clear when a senior Thai official told the local media that he was unaware of China's plans to harness the part of the Salween that flows through its southern Yunnan province.

"Surapol Pattani, director of the Water Resources Department's policy and planning office, professed no knowledge of the Chinese plan," reported the English-language daily the 'Bangkok Post' in its Dec. 18 edition.

The following day, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also reflected Bangkok's level of uncertainty about Beijing's plans when he was quoted in the same paper as saying, "I believe China, which is a big country, will be careful not to be accused of taking advantage of smaller countries."

But "this attitude is typical of the Chinese; they feel they do not have to inform the downstream countries of their plans to dam rivers that flow into other countries," Chainarong, who is in the vanguard of the protest movement, told IPS.

Earlier in the month, over 80 groups who are rallying against the Salween dams submitted a protest letter to the Chinese ambassador in Bangkok.

These protesters included grassroots activists and human rights and ethnic groups in addition to the environmentalists, some of whom previously also opposed Burma's plans to build dams in its part of the Salween to supply electricity to Thailand.

"The peoples and the natural environment in the Salween River Basin will be drastically impacted by any major hydropower development undertaken by China on the river," the letter states.

"We request the Chinese government to suspend the project immediately," it continues, adding further that "the peoples in the Salween River Basin should be provided with timely and complete information about the planned development.

The protest group, which included activists from Burma and Thailand, also urged Beijing to let the affected people "participate in the decision-making process."

The Chinese government, however, is not legally bound to seek the views of the two countries that share the Salween, since it has not signed an agreement on how to share the waters of this river that cuts across national boundaries.

The 2,800 kilometre-long Salween River begins its journey in the mountains of Tibet and flows through China's Yunnan province, then into Burma. It touches Thailand's northern border before flowing out from Burma into the Andaman Sea.

According to reports appearing in a Chinese newspaper, the 'Yunnan Daily,' the dam's developers are hoping to generate a combined output of 21,320 megawatts from the 13 hydropower dams. Construction of the dam is expected to last 20 years.

This latest hydro-power generation plan comes at a time when Beijing has been taking stock of it limited power supply given rising demand that comes with its economic prosperity. Power failures in 16 of China's 31 provinces this summer exposed the extent of the problem.

China is looking to Yunnan, through which four rivers pass through, to deliver most of the power generation. It accounts for 24 percent of China's hydropower potential.

There are also questions about the plans for dams on the Salween being raised in China itself. Some groups have petitioned Beijing to go slow on it the Salween is among the few undammed rivers in China, is close to rich heritage sites and is not really necessary.

But activists in Thailand do not harbour high hopes of changing China's mind, citing how Beijing has gone to dam South-east Asia's largest river — the Mekong — to generate power for its domestic needs.

In 1995, China completed construction of the Manwan dam, one of a planned eight dams Beijing plans upstream of the Mekong, the Chinese portions of which it calls Lancang. A second dam, the Dachaoshan, is due to completed soon and the 2.7 billion U.S. dollar Xiaowan dam is due to be finished in 2012.

Fishing communities and activists have since reported uneven flows of water, previously known levels of riverbank erosion that have disrupted fishing and livelihood in downstream countries, which include Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

"China's plans for the Salween is no different to the way it has pursued its plans for the Mekong," Premrudee Daoroung of Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance, a Bangkok-based environmental lobby for South-east Asia, told IPS. "It goes ahead without consulting or informing the local communities who will be affected in neighbouring countries. The governments are also ignored."

"The Salween project will become a source of conflict like the Mekong is becoming," she added. (END/Copyright IPS)