Wang Yi asks Myanmar to protect Chinese projects as Beijing hosts Mekong ministers

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi asked Myanmar to protect Chinese personnel, institutions and projects, and pressed Thailand for a stable and predictable business climate for Chinese companies, in separate meetings in Beijing on Tuesday ahead of a gathering of foreign ministers from the six countries along the Mekong river.

Wang met Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Lao Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane and Myanmar's Minister of National Planning, Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, Aung Kyaw Hoe, according to accounts released by China's foreign ministry and reported by Reuters and Turkey's Anadolu Agency. The meetings came before the 11th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, which China's foreign ministry said Wang would chair in Beijing on 3 and 4 November.

What happened

With Myanmar, Wang said China supports the country's political reconciliation, its efforts to stabilise the situation, and its economic development and livelihoods, Anadolu reported, citing the Chinese account. He proposed closer cooperation on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, energy and security, including joint action against online gambling and telecom fraud, and asked Myanmar to protect Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in the country. Aung Kyaw Hoe said Myanmar would step up efforts against telecom fraud with China and other countries in the region and welcomed more Chinese investment.

With Thailand, Wang said Beijing would open its market further, encourage Chinese companies to invest and expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, computing centres and semiconductors. He asked for a stable, predictable business environment for Chinese firms and called for "eliminating various interferences" and closer coordination through APEC and China-ASEAN mechanisms. The two sides agreed to step up action against illegal call centres, gambling and telecom fraud, Reuters reported; such operations often use trafficked workers. Sihasak said Thailand would coordinate more closely with China, support multilateralism and uphold a UN-centred international order.

With Laos, Wang called for more high-level exchanges, fuller use of the China-Laos Economic Corridor Cooperation Joint Committee and faster development along the China-Laos railway. Thongsavanh said Laos wanted more cooperation with China on connectivity, energy, mining and artificial intelligence, and on preventing cross-border crime.

The accounts released on Tuesday did not list specific new agreements, targets or timetables. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, announcing the meeting on Monday, said Beijing hoped the ministers would discuss a blueprint for what it calls "LMC 2.0", new mechanisms for openness and cooperation and more platforms for industrial innovation, Xinhua reported.

Background

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation brings together China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Lancang is the Chinese name for the upper Mekong, which rises on the Tibetan plateau and flows through China before reaching the five downstream countries. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the group's first leaders' meeting, which China marked in March with a reception at which Wang said the mechanism set an example for building a "community with a shared future", according to the Chinese government's website.

Myanmar has been in civil war since its military seized power in February 2021, and Chinese-backed infrastructure, including the economic corridor that links China's Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal coast, runs through or near contested areas.

The scam compounds that Wang raised with both Myanmar and Thailand sit largely along the Myanmar-Thailand border. They have drawn in workers from across Asia, many recruited with fake job offers and then forced to run online fraud.

Why it matters for India

The scam centres are a direct problem for India. India's Ministry of External Affairs said in June that 2,411 Indians trapped in cyber-scam compounds in Myanmar had been brought home over the previous year and a half, and that more than 150 were still believed to be stuck there, Asianet News reported. Any crackdown that Beijing drives with Myanmar and Thailand will shape what happens to those who remain, and to the networks that recruit Indians.

Myanmar is also India's land gateway to South-East Asia. India's own projects there, including the Kaladan multimodal transit project, which is meant to link Kolkata's eastern seaboard to Mizoram through Myanmar's Sittwe port, and the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway, run through the same troubled country where China is now asking for guarantees for its corridor. A Chinese-built route to the Bay of Bengal gives Beijing a presence in waters that matter to India's Navy and to ports in Bengal and Odisha.

India has its own grouping with the same five Mekong countries, the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, launched in 2000. Beijing's push for an upgraded "LMC 2.0", with more trade, technology and security cooperation, competes for the same governments' attention.

The river itself is a further parallel. On the Mekong, China is the upstream power, as it is on the Brahmaputra, which begins in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo. China is building a hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo that Business Today has described as a 60,000 MW scheme near the Indian border, which has sharpened concern in India about how the river's flows, and the data China shares about them, could affect Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and, downstream, Bangladesh. How Beijing handles water and data commitments with its Mekong neighbours is watched in New Delhi as an indicator.

What they are saying

Beijing's stated position is that the LMC is a partnership of equals focused on development. The Chinese accounts of Tuesday's meetings framed the talks around investment, connectivity and fighting cross-border crime, and Wang's March remarks presented the mechanism as a model for the region.

India's Ministry of External Affairs had not commented on the meeting by early Wednesday, India time.

What happens next

• 4 November: the 11th LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting concludes in Beijing; a joint statement or list of outcomes is expected.
• Early to mid-November: China's special envoy Zhai Jun visits Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
• 18-19 November: China hosts the APEC summit in Shenzhen, where Wang called for closer China-Thailand coordination.