Friday (April 17th): Water Wars, prepare yourself

Xi Jinping

Name? Xi Jiping

Westphalian identity? Chinese

Age? 66

Why is he in the news? Well, he’s in the news for a number of reasons related to the viral challenge but we’re pretty done talking about that and don’t want to heighten speculation. So the one story we found about Xi with confirmed facts is his abuse of dams on the upper Mekong River.

Why do we care? The Mekong River region of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam experienced extensive droughts last year, impacting key agriculture areas. With this latest report, we now know that China played a big part in driving that drought through its dam management.

Why should you care? The next big wars will not be fought about oil, but drinking water. And in a report by the European Commission this area was mentioned as an area with high risk for conflict over water. 

European Union 2018

Who else cares? Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, they would like to keep their agricultural sector alive.

Any further comments? The importance of this report has been largely overshadowed by the viral challenge…along with everything else non-Covid related…as such, Xi stands to face little to no international backlash for China’s actions. If this issue remains uncared about China will gain a huge advantage in the regions making their neighbours more and more dependent on their goodwill.