[photopress:Moody_Mekong_sunset.JPEG,full,alignright]Two ships each carrying 150 tons of refined oil have arrived in southwest China’s Yunnan Province from neighboring Thailand via the Mekong River. The suggestion is that theroute will serve as an alternative to the Strait of Malacca as a passage for shipping oil and help ensure the oil supply to Yunnan and southwest China.
In March this year China signed a landmark agreement with Laos, Myanmar and Thailand on refined oil shipping through the waterway. But the agreement only allowed a monthly shipping quota of 1,200 tons of oil for safety reasons.
Qiao Xinmin, chief of the provincial maritime affairs bureau said, however, the three Southeast Asian nations later agreed to raise the quota after China had set up an emergency response team to ensure oil shipping safety on the river, said on Thursday.
China will now ship around 70,000 tons of refined oil each year from Thailand by way of the Mekong.
Officials from the four countries believe the program will help boost transport cooperation on the Mekong. It opened to commercial navigation 16 years ago.
The river has become a tourist route and major transport channel for ore, produce and commodities between China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
What is not stated is that the Mekong has a severe water problem is some seasons of the year as the water is drained of by farmers for irrigation purposes. So far, at least part of the time, the river is effectively unnavigable and this problem will worsen in years to come unless there is multti-country controls applied. This seems unlikely.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
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