Shipping resumed five weeks later, with the departure of 10 cargo boats from the Mekong port of Guanlei - protected by heavily armed Chinese border guards on speedboats. Cargo volumes between Thailand's Chiang Saen and ports in China's Yunnan province have tripled since 2004, with about 300,000 tonnes of mainly agricultural goods now transported along the Mekong every year, Mekong River Commission statistics show.Īll Chinese shipping on the Mekong was suspended after the October massacre, which sparked popular outrage in China, with photos of the sailors' bodies circulating widely on the Internet. The Mekong is an increasingly lucrative trade route. Beijing has invested heavily in the Mekong as part of a strategy to expand its economic and diplomatic influence in Southeast Asia, dynamiting some sections to allow bigger ships to pass, streamlining import and export procedures, and improving shipping support facilities. The geopolitical murder mystery is set against the backdrop of Southeast Asia's famed Mekong River, which flows from the Himalayas through China, where it is called the Lancang, and into Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.Īround 60 million people depend on the river and its tributaries for food, transport and many other aspects of their daily lives.
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