China-backed projects on the Mekong River may complicate ties with Vietnam, analysts warn, as Hanoi navigates the delicate balance of cooperation with Beijing while maintaining a strategic presence in neighbouring Cambodia and Laos.
At a recent online forum on Tuesday, the discussion centred on Vietnam’s complex security challenges and how Hanoi can maintain relations with its three neighbours while protecting its interests, especially amid China’s growing economic influence in infrastructure projects, such as dams in Laos and Cambodia.
China has embarked on extensive dam-building activities in the Mekong area, operating 12 mainstream dams and 95 tributary dams that pose an…