Sir,

With regard to the article entitled "How much longer will the Mekong River remain the world's last great unspoilt river " dated 30 December 2003, I wish to offer the following observations.

1. The article says "governments in upstream countries are unlikely to give much thought to the impact of projects on lowly fishermen or farmers beyond their borders". The fact is thatChina, as an upstream country, has always attached great importance to the effect of upstream developments on downstream countries. Before the start and after the completion of certain projects,Chinahas always been conducting continuous research to monitor their environmental and biological effect on downstream countries. The following are two examples.

I. From March to April 2002, the Navigation Channel Improvement Project of theUpperMekongRiverwas carried out to implement the Agreement on Commercial Navigation on theLancang-MekongRiveramong the Governments of the People's Republic ofChina, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Union of Myanmar and theKingdomofThailand(the Quadripartite Agreement). Before the project started, the four parties established two expert teams for the purpose of preparing a report on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Composed of experts from the four countries, the teams went to the working sites in April 2001. They came to the conclusion that this project was environmentally sound and would not have negative effect onLowerMekongRiver. It was after the EIA report got approved by governments of the four countries that the project started.

For your reference, this EIA report may be obtained from the Ministry of Communications of the People's Republic ofChina.

II. Over the years,Chinahas always paid special attention to the effect of the dams at Manwan andDachaoshang,YunnanProvince, on the Lower Mekong Region. Statistics shows that the dams don't have negative impact on downstream countries. The dam-building doesn't lead to the deterioration of overall water flow, water quality and fisheries in the Lower Mekong Region. Furthermore, the dams help to alleviate the damaging impact of flood and increase the water flow during dry season, thus benefiting the agricultural irrigation and the environment ofLower Mekongregion.

2. The article seems to misunderstandChina's policy towards the Mekong River Commission (MRC).China's policy towards MRC is not "refuse to join" as described by the article.Chinahas maintained regular dialogue relations with the MRC since 1996. Up to now, 8 dialogue meetings have been held between the two sides. Since 1999, several MRC delegations have paid their visits toChina, includingYunnanProvince.Chinastands ready to further strengthen the existing cooperation within the Greater Mekong Sub-region through MRC and other relevant mechanisms.