• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.245-245
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• 2023

This paper examines the extent to which the Mekong River Basin countries have achieved socioeconomic benefits based on regional cooperation through the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Program, focusing on hydropower development and the Mekong Power Grid. This study pays attention to the time period from 2012 to 2022. The benefit sharing approach is employed to evaluate the extent to which hydropower development and the Mekong Power Grid have contributed to the regional energy trade in the GMS program. The GMS program was launched by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 1992, and the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam have taken an active part in the program. The goals of the GMS program are to achieve poverty alleviation, economic development, and regional cooperation in various sectors, including energy, tourism, and transportation. The GMS Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030), in 2021, provides a new framework for prosperous and sustainable development in the river basin. In the energy sector, the GMS program has been instrumental in facilitating hydropower development and creating the Mekong Power Grid with the Regional Grid Code (RGC), contributing to economic benefits and promoting regional trade of hydroelectricity. It is argued that the GMS program has enhanced regional cooperation between the riparian countries. Despite such achievements, the GMS program has faced challenges, including the gap of economic development between the riparian countries, socioeconomic and environmental concerns regarding hydropower development between the Upper and Lower Mekong countries, and geopolitical tensions from the US-China rivalry. These challenges should adequately be addressed within the program, which can guarantee the sustainability of the program for the river basin.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.223-223
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• 2015

This research evaluates cooperation in transboundary rivers with special reference to the Great Mekong Subregion (GMS) program in the Mekong River Basin. The benefit sharing approach has been deployed as a theoretical framework to analyze the extent to which the riparian states have achieved cooperation. The river basin governance led by the Mekong River Commission since 1995 has not adequately performed due to non-participation of upstream countries and the lack of law enforcement mechanism. Since the late 1980s, China has undertaken hydropower development unilaterally, thereby triggering discomfort from the Lower Mekong countries. The GMS program has led China to strengthening economic ties with the downstream countries through hydropower development as investors and developers. The program has also supported the establishment of economic corridors, and removal of physical barriers and has paved the way for cooperation in other sectors, such as the environment, agriculture, tourism and energy. There are challenges for further cooperation, including the development gaps between China and the downstream countries, political tensions and environment impacts of hydropower dams in the river basin. The Mekong River Basin shows the possibility of cooperation through benefit sharing. Sharing benefits accrued from the river and beyond the river between China and the downstream countries have enhanced economic ties, thereby consolidating cooperation each another.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.73-90
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• 2015

This article focuses on geo-institutional differentiation and a multi-scalar analysis of emerging capitalist development in Laos. It discusses the impact of the Greater Mekong Subregion on new institutional economic and economic geographical arrangements. It demonstrates the usefulness of the varieties of Asian capitalism approach. The rubber industry was chosen to unravel emerging but various sub-national institutional arrangements linked to higher scale levels. Rubber is a growing agribusiness industry throughout the country, led by the insatiable demand from China. Overall, this study shows that the capitalist development of the rubber industry features much geo-institutional differentiation, due to the different strategies of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese investors. Since Laos is still in transition from a state-led economy to something else, it is impossible at this to identify the exact number capitalisms. Yet, the evidence on rubber clearly lays bare the presence of multiple institutional arrangements. Without more inclusiveness, however, the implications for regional development are worrying. Exclusive arrangements will most likely lead to more uneven regional development and higher regional inequality. To refine theories on sub-national varieties of capitalism in developing countries it is instructive to consider more explicitly the notion of regional personal capitalisms and the complex interplay between national and regional states and relationships between capital accumulation and livelihood analyses.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.153-165
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• 2018

Development of an effective vaccine is critically needed for the prevention of malaria. One of the key antigens for malaria vaccines is the apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA-1) of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the surface protein for erythrocyte invasion of the parasite. The gene encoding AMA-1 has been sequenced from populations of P. falciparum worldwide, but the haplotype diversity of the gene in P. falciparum populations in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), including Thailand, remains to be characterized. In the present study, the AMA-1 gene was PCR amplified and sequenced from the genomic DNA of 65 P. falciparum isolates from 5 endemic areas in Thailand. The nearly full-length 1,848 nucleotide sequence of AMA-1 was subjected to molecular analyses, including nucleotide sequence diversity, haplotype diversity and deduced amino acid sequence diversity and neutrality tests. Phylogenetic analysis and pair-wise population differentiation ($F_{st}$ indices) were performed to infer the population structure. The analyses identified 60 single nucleotide polymorphic loci, predominately located in domain I of AMA-1. A total of 31 unique AMA-1 haplotypes were identified, which included 11 novel ones. The phylogenetic tree of the AMA-1 haplotypes revealed multiple clades of AMA-1, each of which contained parasites of multiple geographical origins, consistent with the $F_{st}$ indices indicating genetic homogeneity or gene flow among geographically distinct populations of P. falciparum in Thailand's borders with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. In summary, the study revealed novel haplotypes and population structure needed for the further advancement of AMA-1-based malaria vaccines in the GMS.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.369-377
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• 2019

Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) resistance is widespread throughout the Greater Mekong Subregion. This raises concern over the antimalarial treatment in Thailand since it shares borders with Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar where high ACT failure rates were reported. It is crucial to have information about the spread of ACT resistance for efficient planning and treatment. This study was to identify the molecular markers for antimalarial drug resistance: Pfkelch13 and Pfmdr1 mutations from 5 provinces of southern Thailand, from 2012 to 2017, of which 2 provinces on the Thai- Myanmar border (Chumphon and Ranong), one on Thai-Malaysia border (Yala) and 2 from non-border provinces (Phang Nga and Surat Thani). The results showed that C580Y mutation of Pfkelch13 was found mainly in the province on the Thai-Myanmar border. No mutations in the PfKelch13 gene were found in Surat Thani and Yala. The Pfmdr1 gene isolated from the Thai-Malaysia border was a different pattern from those found in other areas (100% N86Y) whereas wild type strain was present in Phang Nga. Our study indicated that the molecular markers of artemisinin resistance were spread in the provinces bordering along the Thai-Myanmar, and the pattern of Pfmdr1 mutations from the areas along the international border of Thailand differed from those of the non-border provinces. The information of the molecular markers from this study highlighted the recent spread of artemisinin resistant parasites from the endemic area, and the data will be useful for optimizing antimalarial treatment based on regional differences.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.408-422
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• 2013

This paper builds on recent scholarly endeavours to establish a body of knowledge on Varieties of Asian Capitalism/Asian Business Systems. The forthcoming Oxford handbook of Asian business systems systematically compares institutional capitalist arrangements across Asia including Laos, yet there is no chapter on Cambodia. The objective of this paper is to compare the Lao and Cambodian varieties of Asian capitalism, with special reference to the role of the state and the economic geography of both countries. Accordingly, it seeks answers to the questions as to how territory has become a key arena for re-organising economic power and how the Lao and Cambodian state themselves are being transformed through state capitalism and the Beijing-Seoul-Tokyo Consensus. A comparative analysis reveals a difference between state-coordinated frontier capitalism in Laos versus patrimonial oligarchy in Cambodia. Interdependencies between the market and the state in Laos display the state as active and interventionist. In some provinces the central government leaves decision making to provincial elites contributing to the emergence of other distinctive regional varieties of capitalism. The rising spatially less selective oligarchs in Cambodia focus relatively more on markets, but are certainly not seeking free markets with equal entry opportunities. The findings offer interesting possibilities for further research on the spaces of Asian capitalism, both from an empirical and theoretical perspective. More work should be done to accommodate the role of small and medium enterprises and theories need to better integrate oligarchic, personal and familial capitalism. Finally, comparative corridor studies in Laos could lead to better insights into the nature of regional varieties of capitalism.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.167-206
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• 2014

메콩 경제권(GMS)의 다양한 개발 현장 속에서 고무 나무로부터 채취하는 라텍스는 캄보디아, 라오스를 포함한 인도 차이나 반도 국가들 사이에서 주요 농업 활동으로 주목 받고 있다. 그러나 캄보디아와 라오스의 대형 플랜테이션은 여러 부정적인 결과들을 낳고 있다. 토지 점유, 계약 농업을 통한 착취 등으로 인해 역설적으로 농촌의 빈곤은 증가하고 있고 해외 투자자에 대한 재정적, 기술적 의존이 심화되고 환경 파괴가 일어나고 있다. 이러한 점들로 인해 소규모 자작농들에 주목할 필요가 있다. 고무 자작농은 고용을 창출하며 토지 점유를 방지한다. 본 연구는 캄보디아와 라오스의 소규모 고무 자작농들의 생계를 비교하며 고무 호황으로 어떠한 이득을 얻고 어떠한 형태로 생계를 개선할 수 있는지를 연구한다. 본 연구는 캄보디아의 Tboung Khmum 구역과 Somsanouk 마을의 사례 연구를 바탕으로 하였다. 실증적인 분석은 세 가지의 이론적 틀을 바탕으로 하였다. 미시-생계 연구, 글로벌 가치사슬 그리고 GMS에 대한 연구들이다. 실증 분석의 초점은 생계의 변화상과 결과(고용 창출과 빈곤 탈출)이다. 전체적으로 소규모 고무 자작농은 전망이 밝았으나 앞서 언급 된 문제점들로 인해 농촌 문제를 모두 해결할 수 있는 수단은 아니다. 중요한 유사성은 소규모 고무 자작농의 사회경제적 공헌이다. 연구 지역 두 곳에서 자작농들은 고무 농사는 생계를 개선하는 데에 좋은 수단이라고 답하였다. 그럼에도 불구하고 낮은 교육 수준은 그들의 생계 전략을 불안정하게 하고 있다. 양쪽 지역에서 응답자들은 다른 주민을 따라 고무 농사를 시작했다고 대답했으며 경제, 환경적인 위험에 대해 충분히 인지하고 있지 못하였다. 이와 관련한 다른 유사점으로 소규모 자작농들을 지원할 수 있는 정부의 개입이 없었다는 것이다. 자금 조달은 고무 농사의 심각한 애로 사항 중 하나였다. 명확한 차이점으로 Tboung Khmum의 자작농들은 중개 상인에게 계약 관계를 맺지 않고 라텍스를 판매했으며 Somsanouk의 경우에는 고무 가격이 국제 시장의 영향을 받음에도 가장 높은 가격을 제시하는 상인에게 농민 전체가 같이 판매를 하였다. 이러한 현상은 GMS 내에서 이루어지고 있는 근대적인 경제 현상 에 농촌 공동체들이 다양하게 연결 되고 있음을 재확인한다. 게다가 Somsanouk 마을에서는 사이짓기를 하는 경우가 없었다. 이는 투자자들이 생산량을 극대화하기 위해 자작농들에게 사이짓기를 장려하지 않았기 때문이다. Tboung Khmum 마을의 경우 고무와 더불어 고무 이전의 주요 작물이던 카사바를 같이 재배했다. 요약하면, 자작농에 의한 소규모 고무농업은 (비록 농촌의 모든 어려움을 해결할 수는 없지만) 토지점유 등 부정적 현상이 나타나는 대규모 플렌테이션에 비해 유의미한 일자리를 창출하는 등 미래를 위한 보다 나은 대안이 될 수 있다. 농촌 생활의 질을 개선하기 위해서는 7년 간의 고무 생육기간 동안 농가가 감수해야 하는 사회-경제적 불안정성을 해결하고 대안적 소득원을 마련할 필요가 있다