The intervention in the Mekong Region by the United States .1 Background

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Chapter 4 The Intervention by Powers and the Impact to the Region

China’s “OBOR” initiative contains a strong economic and strategic thinking, which is the vision of a big country. As mentioned in the previous chapters, the Indochina Peninsula is treasured by China owing to its important geographical location. China is eager to build the relationship, through the strengthening of investment with an attempt to further develop towards the Indian Ocean.

For other powers of the world, they know China’s ideas and ambitions.

They will take the relevant response in the region on the existing basis because they are wary of China’s rise and threat in Asia. In this chapter, we will discuss three countries, including the United States - the world super power and influential in the Asian region, Japan - once sweeping through Southeast Asia during World War II, and getting rapid recovery of economic strength in the postwar, Russia, once the world’s super power in the Soviet era, possessing deep military strength and also the world’s important emerging economy.

It is expected to view the waves caused by OBOR in the Greater Mekong Subregion and even Southeast Asia with a broader perspective, by discussing the intervention of foreign powers.

4.1 The intervention in the Mekong Region by the United States 4.1.1 Background

The United States had a very close connection with the Indochina Peninsula in modern times. One of the most critical events is the Vietnam War, which was the war controlled by the two major blocs, the United States and the Soviet Union during Cold War. Vietnam War was the one US sent the largest

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number of troops after World War II. The battlefields were in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The US military dispatched force into to the battlefields for over ten years, with the final defeat and withdrawal from Vietnam. Although the army withdrew from the Indochina Peninsula, the impact continued to exist, such as the unexploded bombs and mines in the battlefields. When the former US president Barack Obama in September 2016 visited Laos, he admitted that the left US bombs have caused great harm and brought a long shadow to the local civilians. The US is willing to provide funds to help clear the unexploded bomb¹.

The war caused great damage, but it does not mean that the United States and Vietnam is in the opposition. South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) received economic and technical assistance from the United States in the 1960s, and had an open economic market compared with the North. The embargo after the war was lifted in 1995 by the then US president Bill Clinton, leading to bilateral trade agreements. In 2013, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang visited President Obama in the White House, jointly issuing a statement that the United States and Vietnam are in the “Comprehensive Partnership”, which includes the willingness to cooperate in the South China Sea issue, the strengthening of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and the discussion of Vietnamese human right issue².

Over the past 19 years, the US-Vietnamese bilateral trade has grown from nearly zero to 35 billion US dollars in 2014. The US companies have invested in Vietnam and created numerous jobs as well as opening new markets for US products and services.³ In addition to economic and trade relations, the two countries have also established cooperative mechanisms in the field of security.

Another important ally for the United States is Thailand. Thailand is the

1 Mark Landler (2016, Sep 6). Obama Acknowledges Scars of America’s Shadow War in Laos. The New York Times. Retrieved from:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/world/asia/obama-laos-bombs-war.html?_r=0

2 Le Hong Hiep (2013, Aug 6). The US–Vietnam comprehensive partnership: key issues and implications. East Asia Forum. Retrieved from: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2013/08/06/

3 簡紹琪(2015 年 4 月)，從死對頭到好夥伴 美國越南關係大躍進。風傳媒，參照：

http://www.storm.mg/article/48124

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earliest friend of the United States in Asia. The two countries have signed a friendly trade agreement in the Siamese period, and a number of prime ministers had friendly relations with the US government. The two countries were engaged in frequent economic and trade activities and relied on each other pretty much. In the end of 2012 when Obama visited Yingluck in Thailand, he praised Yingluck as an outstanding leader and agreed with Thailand’s continuous democracy and peace. But the coup in May 2014 made the United States quite unhappy, which also affected the relationship between the two countries. The then US Secretary of State John Kerry said that US was disappointed with the Thai military getting the regime by way of coup. The abandonment of the constitution is not legitimate. The United States will view the participation and assistance in the military cooperation and in other aspects⁴.

Even if the United States has disagreement on the military government in violation of the principles of democracy, the two countries actually have a long period of cooperation, especially in the military. The two countries have been engaged in the military exercise “Cobra Gold” for several years, which is famous in Asia-Pacific region. The exercise is the largest multi-national military exercise in the Asia-Pacific region, held annually and focused on military cooperation and humanitarian relief. It was also intended to strengthen relations with Southeast Asian allies and ensure regional security. It is evident that United States wants to contain China’s ambitions by regional military cooperation. In February 2017, the 36th joint exercise was held. The US military delegated Harris, the Commander of US Pacific Command to attend the opening ceremony, showing that Trump’s authorities will continue to value the peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region.⁵

Another case worth mentioning is the relationship between the United States and Myanmar. The long-term violations of human rights by Burmese

4 Zeke J Miller (2014, May 23). U.S. Condemns Thai Takeover As a Coup, Leaving Aid in Question.

TIME. Retrieved from: http://time.com/109601/us-thailand-coup/

5 王能斌(2017 年 2 月)，「金色眼鏡蛇」聯合軍演明舉行 29 國參與。青年日報，參照：

http://news.gpwb.gov.tw/News/214350

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junta were not accordant with the United States values. Thus the US stopped the poor countries trade concessions in 1989, but has supported the well-known pioneer of democracy Aung San Suu Kyi. Since the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the power, the United States thought that Myanmar has made significant progress in the promotion of democracy and will no longer threaten US national security. President Obama issued an administrative order in October 2016, to formally lift the sanctions for many past years.⁶ Obama’s action was related to the United States Asian rebalance strategy, attempting to rope in Myanmar and reduce China’s influence in the region.⁷ After all, Aung San Suu Kyi has chosen to maintain good trade relations with China under economic considerations, and the United States will be worried that Burmese gradual tilt toward China’s foreign policy will affect the strategic interests of the United States in Asia.

4.1.2 Lower Mekong Initiative, LMI

This proposal was introduced by the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009 when she met the foreign ministers of the Mekong river countries (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam). The delegates agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of environment, health, education and infrastructure on the basis of the common interest. Myanmar joined the initiative in 2012. LMI is an important strategy of the United States, intended to rope in land Southeast Asian countries into the regular cooperation mechanism, and further establish the overall cooperation in Southeast Asia. US expected the technology and financial assistance would help the Mekong River countries avoid being controlled by China’s economic assistance.

In July 2012, Hilary once again expressed the attention and determination

6 BBC (2016, Oct. 7). President Obama lifts Myanmar trade sanctions. Retrieved from:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37592380

7 Richard C. Paddock (2016, Sep 15). Obama’s Move to End Myanmar Sanctions Promises a Lift for Its Economy. The New York Times. Retrieved from:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/world/asia/myanmar-sanctions-economy-us.html?_r=0

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to participate in Southeast Asian affairs.⁸ The United States promised to provide three-year 50 million to promote the “Asia Pacific Engagement Initiative” which is for bilateral and cross-border issues. At the meantime, Hilary also proposed “Friends of Lower Mekong”, a ministerial two-track framework, to enhance the coordination when doing assistance and to strengthen the country-oriented development strategy. The Obama’s administration was pushing the LMI and regarding it as an important part of active participation in Southeast Asia. The intention of promoting the

“Asia-Pacific rebalancing” was obvious. Whether the US new government will continue to follow the policy remains to be observed.

4.1.3 Sino-US competition in the Indochina Peninsula

The countries in Indochina Peninsula are China’s traditional partners. With the continuous improvement of China’s political and economic status in recent years, and the promotion of OBOR, the Indochina Peninsula has clearly become China’s strategic reliance, from which China could made great strides towards the Indian Ocean and Arab countries to obtain some richer strategic interests.

After the Obama’s administration took office in 2009, the “Asia-Pacific rebalancing” strategy was implemented. In Indochina Peninsula, the US increased its investment and adopted a positive and balanced foreign policy.

The competition will undoubtedly intensify. Under the appeal of fate community, China’s investment in the construction of OBOR continues to increase in the Indochina Peninsula countries. The cooperation included railways, highways, oil and gas, trade, hydropower facilities and so on. In addition to actively using the GMS mechanism, China launched Lancang-Mekong cooperation mechanism, directly grabbing the domination.

8 Ernest Z. Bower (2012, Jul. 24). U.S. Moves to Strengthen ASEAN by Boosting the Lower Mekong Initiative. CSIS. Retrieved from:

https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-moves-strengthen-asean-boosting-lower-mekong-initiative

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The United States was paying attention to the role of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), and pushing the LMI. Each side endeavored to win over the Indochina Peninsula countries under its own mechanism.

As mentioned in the previous sections, the strategic location of the Indochina Peninsula is very important. It is the boundary between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It is also China’s gateway to the southwest. In the region are mostly economic emerging countries, with the potential of investment and trade. China has been actively using economic, trade and political influence to win over these emerging countries, and the United States was certainly worried that the region would become China’s sphere of influence, or even it will be excluded from the region by China. Therefore, the United States dare not ignore. It would adjust the strategic focus and continue to strengthen the influence in the Indochina Peninsula in order to contain China’s force by deploying the strength at the front line.

The South China Sea near the Indochina Peninsula is a region where the competition and conflict between the United States and China were more intense. The United States or China took strategy to consolidate the relations with countries in the Indochina Peninsula in order to win support in the South China Sea issue. In this respect, China seems to operate well.