Thư vận động của Nhóm Nghiên Cứu Văn Hóa Đồng Nai & Cửu Long gửi ba Ngoại trưởng Úc, Hoa Kỳ và Nhật
Thảo luận chiến lược tay ba Úc-Nhật-Mỹ: Ngoại trưởng Julie Bishop, Fumio Kishida và John Kerry bên lề Hội Nghị APEC, Bali, ngày 04-10-2013 (Photo: Reuters)
Ban Biên Tập: Nhóm Nghiên Cứu Văn Hóa Đồng Nai & Cửu Long (Dong Nai & Cuu Long Cultural Research Group Inc., www.dongnaicuulongucchau.org.au) tại Úc vừa gửi ba bức thư đến ba Ngoại trưởng Úc Đại Lợi, Hoa Kỳ và Nhật Bản về những tác hại trong việc xây dựng các đập thủy điện trên sông Mekong. Xin phổ biến nguyên văn Anh ngữ của ba bức thư vận động.
Dong Nai & Cuu Long Cultural Research Group Incorporated
31 Fairview Road, Canley Vale NSW 2166, Australia
Sydney, 28 February 2014
The Hon. Julie Bishop, MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Madam Minister,
As the new Federal Government approaches its six-month mark, we are writing to convey our warmest congratulations to the Prime Minister and his Ministry, and in particular to you as the first female Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia.
Indeed during this short period, you have taken significant steps to put in place signature initiatives of the Coalition such as the New Colombo Plan, to refocus Australia’s bilateral and multilateral relations with the Asia-Indo Pacific region and to strengthen the US-Australia Alliance in an Emerging Asia. You have paid official visits to North Asia, including Japan, other nations in the South Pacific and members of the ASEAN, including Vietnam. In addition, you have handled with great calming skills bilateral issues raised by revelations of unconfirmed past intelligence gathering practices relating to Indonesia.
On any account, your achievements during your first 6 months are second to none in the history of Australian external and foreign affairs, which in today’s world include not only the traditional diplomacy but also the cultural and economic diplomacies.
As you said previously, Australia is well positioned to reap the benefits of the re-emergence of Asia as a global economic and strategic powerhouse. Those benefits are of course not only for Australia to enjoy but also to share with the wider region, as a result of the Abbott Government merging Australia’s aid program with its foreign and trade policies to better gain sustainable broader economic development.
In this regard and in regional specific terms, namely the Greater Mekong Sub Region (GMS), Australia has played and continues to play a pivotal role together with the United States and Japan as major donors in financial and technical assistance to improve the living conditions of over 60 million people whose livelihoods depend directly on the Mekong River.
Among the many challenges of sustainable development, there has been a need for the GMS to find suitable ways to meet future demands for energy and power generation. There are of course hydropower dams and there remain other alternative technologies such as wind, solar and nuclear energy. Ideally costs and benefits of each technology should receive further in depth consideration at national and regional levels to optimise development on a sustainable basis. Regrettably, hydropower was wittingly chosen as the preferred option without a thorough investigation of other technologies, and 11 dams were proposed (9 in Laos and 2 in Cambodia).
The Sydney-based Dong Nai & Cuu Long Cultural Research Group Inc, an Australian not-for-profit community organisation (http://www.dongnaicuulongucchau.org.au/),
has added its voice to the grave concerns expressed by the civil society within the Lower Mekong Basin and other national and international NGOs, because those 11 dams across the Mekong River, if built, would cause devastating and irreversible negative impacts on the ecology of the Lower Mekong Basin.
In 2011, we made representations to the Australian Government and the Federal Opposition, suggesting Australia call for a 10 year moratorium of Mekong mainstream dam constructions, as recommended by the Mekong River Commission (MRC). The MRC, a body set up in 1995 by the 4 Lower Mekong Basin countries namely Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to improve regional cooperation, made this objective recommendation in 2010 not only specifically for the Xayaburi Dam in northern Laos, but also for the other 10 proposed dams, to allow time for further study of their impacts and proper consultations within the MRC members and their international supporters.
We shared with other Australian and international NGOs and the civil society in the Lower Mekong Basin the profound disappointment that Australia did not then call for a 10 year delay, even though Australia had endorsed the MRC recommendation and agreed that ‘many key remaining knowledge gaps’ still existed in relation to the potential impacts of Xayaburi Hydropower Dam proposal and other Mekong mainstream dam proposals (Source: Answers to Questions upon Notice to Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, by Senator Rhiannon on 21 July 2011).
Now that the Xayaburi Dam construction has already begun, the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic felt emboldened enough to announce its planned construction of Don Sahong Dam in 2014 without even going through the process of consultation under the MRC’s Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement, on the basis of its claim that Don Sahong is a tributary of the Mekong and not its mainstream (Source: Reuters – Laos pushes ahead with Mekong Dam without consulting neighbours, Oct 3 2013).
Once again, we respectfully call on you as the responsible Cabinet Minister, to reconsider the position of the Australian Government on this matter of Mekong River hydropower dam constructions. We believe that it is not too late, at least for the remaining proposals, to call for this MRC-recommended 10 year delay, especially when this call is made by major donors such as Australia, Japan and the United States.
The Australian assistance objective for the Lower Mekong Basin was, and, as we understand, remains ‘to enable sustainable broad-based economic growth’ based on connectivity and cooperation. Within this objective, Australia has generously given financial and technical assistance to the Lower Mekong Basin – and particularly in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, once the rice bowl not only of Vietnam but also of the whole region but now one of the poorest in the area. Among the major ODA projects in the Mekong Delta to reduce its currently high level of poverty, Australia has built My-Thuan Bridge and soon-to-be Cao Lanh Bridge across the Mekong. Likewise, Can-Tho Bridge was constructed with generous Japanese assistance.
According to MRC’s estimates, in terms of economic benefits, the hydropower dams together would meet only 6-8% of the projected Lower Mekong Basin power demand in 2025 while its negative impacts would likely worsen poverty and inequality in the region.
Therefore, in our view, to allow the proposed 11 dams to be built without proper impact assessments, major donors such as Australia, Japan and the United States would defeat their own assistance objectives.
Minister,
Our representation in similar terms as in this letter is also being sent to The Hon. John Kerry, the Secretary of State of the United States and H.E. Mr. Fumio Kishida, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan.
Please accept our sincere thanks for your consideration of this matter.
With best wishes for your continuing success in your historic role as Australia’s first female Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Yours faithfully,
For and On Behalf of the Dong Nai & Cuu Long * Cultural Research Group Inc,
(Signed) (Signed)
Long-Van Huynh, Ph D Tuong Quang Luu, AO, BA/LLB
(Signed) (Signed)
Thanh Tran, Ph D Hoang Truong, LLM
* Dong Nai and Cuu Long are the names of the two important rivers in Vietnam. Dong Nai which includes Saigon River is the lifeblood for the whole area north of Saigon and Cuu Long which means literally the Nine Dragons, is the Vietnamese name of the Mekong River when it enters southern Vietnam.
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Dong Nai & Cuu Long Cultural Research Group Incorporated
31 Fairview Road, Canley Vale NSW 2166, Australia
Sydney, February 28, 2014
The Hon. John F Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC 20520
USA
Dear Mr. Secretary,
First of all, please allow us to congratulate you most warmly on your first anniversary as the 68th Secretary of State of the United States of America. Since February 2013, you have paid official visits to many parts of the world, including South East Asia where you have obtained personal experience and wide-ranging knowledge during your long and distinguished services to the USA in many important roles.
We are encouraged to note that in mid-December last year, while visiting Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, you said that you came to the area…to “address key future challenges”, including the negative impact of climate change. Indeed, you have expressed your strong and well-founded view that climate change is the enemy in the 21st century, which, if left unchecked, “will wipe out many more communities from the face of the earth, and that is unacceptable under any circumstances – but is even more unacceptable because we know what we can do and need to do in order to deal with this challenge.”
We are wholeheartedly and respectfully in agreement with your policy position. But while climate change is a global challenge, there are regional challenges which may lead to catastrophic consequences much earlier, such as the issue of hydropower dams across the Mekong River.
In this regard and in regional specific terms, namely the Greater Mekong Sub Region (GMS), the United States has played and continues to play a pivotal role together with Japan and Australia as major donors in financial and technical assistance to improve the living conditions of over 60 million people whose livelihoods depend directly on the Mekong River.
Among the many challenges of sustainable development, there has been a need for the GMS to find suitable ways to meet future demands for energy and power generation. There are of course hydropower dams and there remain other alternative technologies such as wind, solar and nuclear energy. Ideally costs and benefits of each technology should receive further in depth consideration at national and regional levels to optimize development on a sustainable basis. Regrettably, hydropower was wittingly chosen as the preferred option without a thorough investigation of other technologies, and 11 dams were proposed (9 in Laos and 2 in Cambodia).
The Sydney-based Dong Nai & Cuu Long Cultural Research Group Inc, an Australian not-for-profit community organization (http://www.dongnaicuulongucchau.org.au/), has added its voice to the grave concerns expressed by the civil society within the Lower Mekong Basin and other national and international NGOs, because those 11 dams across the Mekong River, if built, would cause devastating and irreversible negative impacts on the ecology of the Lower Mekong Basin.
In 2011, we made representations to the Australian Government and to elected members of Parliament in Australia and of the Congress in the United States, suggesting a call for a 10 year moratorium of Mekong mainstream dam constructions, as recommended by the Mekong River Commission (MRC). The MRC, a body set up in 1995 by the 4 Lower Mekong Basin countries namely Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to improve regional cooperation, made this objective recommendation in 2010 not only specifically for the Xayaburi Dam in northern Laos, but also for the other 10 proposed dams, to allow time for further study of their impacts and proper consultations within the MRC members and their international supporters.
We shared with other national and international NGOs and the civil society in the Lower Mekong Basin the profound disappointment that such call for a 10 year delay was not made in a concerted manner at the time, even though the MRC recommendation was endorsed, because a number of ‘key knowledge gaps’ still remained in relation to the potential impacts of Xayaburi Hydropower Dam proposal and other Mekong mainstream dam proposals.
Now that the Xayaburi Dam construction has already begun, the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic felt emboldened enough to announce its planned construction of Don Sahong Dam in 2014 without even going through the process of consultation under the MRC’s Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement, on the basis of its claim that Don Sahong is a tributary of the Mekong and not its mainstream (Source: Reuters – Laos pushes ahead with Mekong Dam without consulting neighbours, Oct 3 2013).
We respectfully call on you as the US Secretary of State with keen interest in and first hand knowledge of South East Asia, to give further consideration for a call for 10 year delay in constructions of Mekong River hydropower dams. Your predecessor, the Hon. Hillary Clinton, during her visit to Laos in July 2012, suggested Laos conduct further studies of the impacts of the Xayaburi Dam on its downstream neighbors before proceeding. (Source: AFP – July 13, 2012: “Clinton Urges Mekong Nations to avoid US dam mistakes”).
We believe that it is not too late, at least for the remaining proposals, to call for this MRC-recommended 10 year delay, especially when this call is made by major donors such as the United States, Japan and Australia.
The US development assistance to the sub-region includes the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) which is an important element of its strategic rebalance to Asia.
The LMI objective, as evidenced by the most recent Sixth Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Ministerial Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, on July 1st, 2013, is to accelerate sustainable economic growth in the sub-region. At least 3 of the 6 US led-LMI pillars, namely agriculture and food security, energy security and environment and water, would be at risk of failure, if the above-mentioned devastating and irreversible negative impacts on the ecology of the Lower Mekong Basin were to become a reality as a result of hydropower dam constructions across the Mekong River. In this scenario, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, which was once, as you well know, the rice bowl of not only Vietnam but also of the whole region would become hardly habitable.
According to MRC’s estimates, in terms of economic benefits, the hydropower dams together would meet only 6-8% of the projected Lower Mekong Basin power demand in 2025 while its negative impacts would likely worsen poverty and inequality in the region.
Therefore, in our view, to allow the proposed 11 dams to be built without proper impact assessments, major donors such as the United States, Japan and Australia would defeat their own assistance objectives.
Excellency,
Our representation in similar terms as in this letter is also being sent to H.E. Mr. Fumio Kishida, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Hon. Julie Bishop, MP, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia.
Please accept our sincere thanks for your consideration of this matter. With best wishes for your success in 2014 and many years to come,
Yours faithfully,
For and On Behalf of the Dong Nai & Cuu Long * Cultural Research Group Inc,
(Signed) (Signed)
Long-Van Huynh, Ph D Tuong Quang Luu, AO, BA/LLB
(Signed) (Signed)
Thanh Tran, Ph D Hoang Truong, LLM
* Dong Nai and Cuu Long are the names of the two important rivers in Vietnam. Dong Nai which includes Saigon River is the lifeblood for the whole area north of Saigon and Cuu Long which means literally the Nine Dragons, is the Vietnamese name of the Mekong River when it enters southern Vietnam.
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Dong Nai & Cuu Long Cultural Research Group Incorporated
31 Fairview Road, Canley Vale NSW 2166, Australia
Sydney, February 28, 2014
His Excellency Mr. Fumio Kishida
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho)
2-2-1 Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda – ku
TOKYO 100 – 8919
JAPAN
Dear Mr. Minister,
Since December 2012, Japan has strengthened and continues to strengthen its bilateral and multilateral relations with The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). His Excellency Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and your good self as Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and other senior Cabinet Ministers have paid official visits to each of the 10 ASEAN members.
Under the guidance of the Five New Principles to build the Future for Japanese Diplomacy, Japan’s laudable initiatives and development assistance to South East Asia are essential for the economic development and poverty reduction for the peoples in the region. Indeed, as noted under the Third Principle of ‘free, open, interconnected economies as part of Japan’s diplomacy’, the Japanese-assisted construction of the Southern Economic Corridor in the Mekong region is seen as a success story. Also as an important part of Japan’s assisted connectivity, the Can Tho Bridge was built with Japan’s generous financial and technical support in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.
In this regard and in regional specific terms, Japan has played and continues to play a pivotal role together with the United States and Australia as major donors in financial and technical assistance to improve the living conditions of over 60 million people whose livelihoods depend directly on the Mekong River.
Among the many challenges of sustainable development, there has been a need for the Greater Mekong Sub region (GMS) to find suitable ways to meet future demands for energy and power generation. There are of course hydropower dams and there remain other alternative technologies such as wind, solar and nuclear energy. Ideally costs and benefits of each technology should receive further in depth consideration at national and regional levels to optimize development on a sustainable basis. Regrettably, hydropower was wittingly chosen as the preferred option without a thorough investigation of other technologies, and 11 dams were proposed (9 in Laos and 2 in Cambodia).
The Sydney-based Dong Nai & Cuu Long Cultural Research Group Inc, an Australian not-for-profit community organization (http://www.dongnaicuulongucchau.org.au/),
has added its voice to the grave concerns expressed by the civil society within the Lower Mekong Basin and other national and international NGOs, because those 11 dams across the Mekong River, if built, would cause devastating and irreversible negative impacts on the ecology of the Lower Mekong Basin.
In 2011, we made representations to relevant authorities, suggesting a call for a 10 year moratorium of Mekong mainstream dam constructions, as recommended by the Mekong River Commission (MRC). The MRC, a body set up in 1995 by the 4 Lower Mekong Basin countries namely Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to improve regional cooperation, made this objective recommendation in 2010 not only specifically for the Xayaburi Dam in northern Laos, but also for the other 10 proposed dams, to allow time for further study of their impacts and proper consultations within the MRC members and their international supporters.
We shared with other national and international NGOs and the civil society in the Lower Mekong Basin the profound disappointment that such call for a 10 year delay was not made at the time, even though the MRC recommendation was endorsed because a number of ‘key knowledge gaps’ still remained in relation to the potential impacts of Xayaburi Hydropower Dam proposal and other Mekong mainstream dam proposals.
Now that the Xayaburi Dam construction has already begun, the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic felt emboldened enough to announce its planned construction of Don Sahong Dam in 2014 without even going through the process of consultation under the MRC’s Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement, on the basis of its claim that Don Sahong is a tributary of the Mekong and not its mainstream (Source: Reuters – Laos pushes ahead with Mekong Dam without consulting neighbours, Oct 3 2013).
We respectfully call on you as Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, with keen interest in and first hand knowledge of South East Asia, to give consideration for a call for 10 year delay in constructions of Mekong River hydropower dams. The former US Secretary of State, the Hon. Hillary Clinton, during her visit to Laos in July 2012, suggested Laos conduct further studies of the impacts of the Xayaburi Dam on its downstream neighbors before proceeding. (Source: AFP – July 13, 2012: “Clinton Urges Mekong Nations to avoid US dam mistakes”).
We believe that it is not too late, at least for the remaining proposals, to call for this MRC-recommended 10 year delay, especially when this call is made by major donors such as Japan, the United States and Australia.
The Tokyo Strategy 2012 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation is instrumental for Japan’s ODA objectives in the region as a whole and bilaterally with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, as evidenced by the latest 5th Mekong-Japan Summit in December 2013.
We are greatly concerned, however, that this grand and generous strategy may not be fully effective if the above-mentioned devastating and irreversible negative impacts on the ecology of the Lower Mekong Basin were to become a reality, as a result of hydropower dam constructions across the Mekong River. In this scenario, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, which was once the rice bowl of not only Vietnam but also of the whole region, would become hardly habitable.
According to MRC’s estimates, in terms of economic benefits, the hydropower dams together would meet only 6-8% of the projected Lower Mekong Basin power demand in 2025 while its negative impacts would likely worsen poverty and inequality in the region.
Therefore, in our view, to allow the proposed 11 dams to be built without proper impact assessments, major donors such as Japan, the United States and Australia would defeat their own assistance objectives.
Excellency,
Our representation in similar terms as in this letter is also being sent to the Hon. John Kerry, the Secretary of State of the United States, and the Hon. Julie Bishop, MP, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia
Please accept our sincere thanks for your consideration of this matter.
With best wishes for your success in 2014 and many years to come,
Yours faithfully,
For and On Behalf of the Dong Nai & Cuu Long * Cultural Research Group Inc,
(Signed) (Signed)
Long-Van Huynh, Ph D Tuong Quang Luu, AO, BA/LLB
(Signed) (Signed)
Thanh Tran, Ph D Hoang Truong, LLM
* Dong Nai and Cuu Long are the names of the two important rivers in Vietnam. Dong Nai which includes Saigon River is the lifeblood for the whole area north of Saigon and Cuu Long which means literally the Nine Dragons, is the Vietnamese name of the Mekong River when it enters southern Vietnam.