The canal will pass through Cambodia and will bypass Vietnam
Cambodia declared a national holiday for the start of the new canal, with parades, fireworks, the whole shebang. This canal will allow Cambodian river traffic to avoid passing through the Mekong delta in Vietnam. Phnom Penh will become a major river port, or perhaps some new city will spring up, such as Neak Leung, where Highway 1 crosses the Mekong.
Of course, this event probably didn’t register a blip on the world media screens. After all, by way of perspective, Cambodia’s population is 1/70th that of China, and there are individual cities in China that have more people than all of Cambodia. But this should be important. The canal will not only be a big deal for Cambodia, but will also have wide geopolitical repercussions.
Cambodia will be able to export rice to China along this canal, as well as import more Chinese products into Phnom Penh. Cambodia will become even more of a Chinese colony than it is already. The sinification of Phnom Penh will accelerate.
There will also be military advantages for China, as the Chinese navy will essentially control Cambodia, and can sail its fleet up into the Laos-Thailand area. Don’t forget, that the Mekong has its source in China. China has reportedly established a naval base at Ream, near Sihanoukville. But even without a naval presence, China will control the flow of water all the way from China through Cambodia.
[As an aside, recall that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were more of a Chinese project than a lot of people realize. Does anyone ever ask the question, “If the Khmer Rouge sent millions of people into the countryside to produce bumper crops of rice, why were the people starving?” One-word answer: China.]
The effect of the canal will be to divert large amounts water from one of the world’s major rivers away from Vietnam. The Mekong is the life-blood of that whole delta region. I’m not hearing anyone worrying that it will cost Vietnam agriculture billions of dollars. Vietnam is not going to be happy about this. Not to mention environmental concerns for the entire region. The construction of the canal represents, in many ways, a declaration of economic war against Vietnam. Vietnam is already trying to shake off a lot of Chinese economic influence, and the canal may push Vietnam further into the arms of America and the West.
Finally, one must ask whether this huge loan ($1.7 billion), of Chinese money to Cambodia, is another one of those Chinese projects that eventually bankrupt the borrower so that China can take over the entire ownership of the project.