The Lancang-mekong Cooperation enters its 10th year, six countries Forge ‘Golden Platform’

April 07, 2025 – In 2015, the first Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held. This year, Lancang-Mekong Cooperation has entered its tenth year. As the first regional cooperation mechanism jointly built by the six countries with the goal of building a community with a shared future, over the past decade, with the joint efforts of the six countries, Lancang-Mekong cooperation in various fields has made positive progress and has become a “golden platform” for regional cooperation. At the just-concluded 2025″Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Week” event, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said that the fifth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting and the tenth Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will be held this year. China is willing to coordinate closely with the five Mekong countries to promote the continuous improvement and upgrading of cooperation in various fields and create “Lancang-Mekong Cooperation 2.0”.

The six Lancang-Mekong countries are connected by rivers. The Lancang-Mekong River, the “Danube River of the East”, originates from the glaciers of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and connects the mountains and rivers of China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The six countries are linked by mountains and rivers, shared by cultures, integrated interests and a shared future.

Over the past decade, the six Lancang-Mekong countries have focused on the five priority areas of “connectivity, production capacity cooperation, cross-border economy, water resources, agriculture and poverty reduction”, focusing on the three pillars of political security, economic and sustainable development, and social and people-to-people exchanges, and have continuously strengthened institutional building and carried out solid practical cooperation. Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the six countries, the Lancang-Mekong countries have adhered to integrity and innovation, continuously accumulated political mutual trust, and committed to building the Lancang-Mekong region into a demonstration zone of the Belt and Road Initiative, a pioneer zone of the global Development Initiative, a pilot zone of the global Security Initiative, and a pioneer zone of the Global Civilization Initiative. The contents and effectiveness of Lancang-Mekong cooperation have been continuously enriched.

The Belt and Road Initiative has been furthered. The road, railway and airport projects undertaken by Chinese companies have effectively improved the infrastructure of the Mekong countries. The Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville Expressway has been officially opened to traffic. The China-Laos Railway has been put into operation smoothly with both passenger and cargo growth, and the China-Thailand railway is making steady progress. The development concept of China-Laos-Thailand connectivity was officially launched, and the level of regional connectivity has been continuously improved. There is every reason to believe that the Belt and Road Initiative will continue to drive the prosperity and development of the six Lancang-Mekong countries.

People’s livelihood and well-being continue to improve. Lancang-Mekong cooperation focuses on carrying out sustainable, people-oriented, high-quality, “small and beautiful” projects, so that people in the basin can really feel the dividends of cooperation. The China-Myanmar COVID-19 vaccine has been officially put into production in Yangon. Yunnan Province of China conscientiously implements the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), introduces the “three free and three convenient” policy measures of unilateral opening, establishes the Free Trade Zone Collaborative Innovation Alliance, and comprehensively promotes the implementation of facilitation measures such as the “Lancang-Mekong Visa” and visa-free entry of ASEAN tour groups into Xishuangbanna, further improving the level of regional trade and investment facilitation. Cultural and sports exchange activities such as the Lancang-Mekong National Culture and Art Festival, Lancang-Mekong International Film Week, Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Dali Marathon and China Sepak Takraw Open were held. Lancang-Mekong “Love Action”, solar street lights, clean water, garbage disposal and other “small and beautiful” demonstration projects have brought real benefits and well-being to people of various countries.

Steady progress has been made in building peace. China’s Yunnan Province and relevant countries held the Lancang-Mekong Regional Crime Exchange Roundtable and the second Lancang-Mekong Sub-Region International Forum on the Rule of Law, and officially inaugurated the Lancang-Mekong Law Enforcement Cooperation Academy. In cooperation with the law enforcement agencies of the five countries, China has carried out practical cooperation in drug control, fugitives, online gambling and electricity fraud, and police law enforcement capacity building, and completed 150 joint patrols along the Mekong River between China and Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, continuously improving regional security.

At a time when the world is entering a new period of turbulence and change, and the global economic recovery is sluggish, China is embarking on a new journey to fully build a modern socialist country and promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization. In this context, Lancang-Mekong cooperation will become an excellent platform to share China’s development dividends and usher in new opportunities for deepening cooperation between China and the five Mekong countries. Jointly advancing the upgrading of Lancang-Mekong cooperation will not only better play the exemplary role of the Belt and Road Initiative and benefit people in the Lancang-Mekong region, but also set a shining example for building a community with a shared future for mankind.