China calls for joint efforts to ensure effective Lancang-Mekong cooperation

BANGKOK - China hopes to work together with Thailand and other Mekong countries to ensure a practical and effective mechanism for the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Monday.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai, Wang stressed the importance of practical actions of cooperation, saying that the LMC should be a "bulldozer."

The LMC is a new sub-regional cooperation mechanism jointly established by the six countries along the river in the spirit of equality, mutual assistance and win-win cooperation, said Wang, adding that the project-based mechanism performs better in serving the common needs of the six countries compared with other Mekong cooperation mechanisms.

The LMC, emphasizing efficiency and practical results, has made rapid progress since last March, said the Chinese foreign minister.

The six countries have gradually cultivated a Lancang-Mekong culture featuring equal treatment, sincerity, mutual assistance and family-like closeness, which constantly drives the mechanism, he said.

Regarding the next phase of development, Wang said the LMC will focus on planning the third Lancang-Mekong Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the later half of this year to prepare for the second Lancang-Mekong Leaders' Meeting.

In the meantime, the six countries will make sure that six joint working groups be formed within this year, and push the early harvest projects toward achieving completion or making substantive breakthroughs, he said.

The six countries will also work out a five-year action plan to be submitted at the second Lancang-Mekong Leaders' Meeting, he said.

China, together with Thailand and other Mekong countries, will try the best to set the mechanism an example for regional cooperation and South-South Cooperation, Wang stressed.

The LMC members are China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The six countries along the Mekong River (the Chinese stretch of which is called the Lancang River) launched the LMC mechanism in 2015 and convened the first Leaders' Meeting in March 2016.