Study On The “External Leading” Issue In The Multilateral Cooperation In The Mekong Region Since The 1990s

Since the 1990 s,extraterritorial countries have been the most special participants of multilateral cooperation in the Mekong region.In the context of globalization and regionalization of the world economy,the extraterritorial countries' involvement in this region is the result of the unification of the need for countries within the region to introduce external forces to develop themselves and the need for extraterritorial countries to enhance their influence in this region.Since entering the Mekong region,extraterritorial countries participate in multilateral cooperation mainly through two channels: on the one hand,extraterritorial countries launch domestically dominant multilateral cooperation for the Mekong river basin countries;On the other hand,extraterritorial countries participate in multilateral cooperation actively which was established previously by regional countries or international organizations,exerting indirect influence through financial assistance,technical support and other means.After years of practice,extraterritorial countries not only play a major role in most specific multilateral cooperation with regional countries,but also establish a dominant position in the multilateral cooperation pattern of the Mekong region as a whole.The issue of “external leading” in multilateral cooperation in the Mekong region has become prominent.Due to the unreasonable attribution of multilateral cooperation dominance,the “external leading” issue has a series of negative impacts in the Mekong region,such as: the poor sustainability,stability and feasibility of multilateral cooperation;the regional countries' lack of autonomy and initiative in multilateral cooperation and their dependence on extraterritorial countries;the disordered regional multilateral cooperation pattern and the threat to regional stability;and the tremendous pressure on China's security and development.In order to take the initiative in multilateral cooperation,the idea of dealing with the “external leading” issue is to make the regional countries have more influence in multilateral cooperation than extraterritorial countries.The specific measure is to promote the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation as the medium for enhancing the regional countries' influence,and to promote the mechanism's status in regional multilateral cooperation pattern.Drawing on the lessons of the “external leading” issue,the Lancang-Mekong cooperation between China and the Mekong River Basin countries should pay attention to fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of all parties involved in thecooperation.At present,it is manifested by China's leading role and the joint efforts of the Mekong river basin countries,to change the multilateral cooperation pattern of the Mekong region gradually from “external leading” to “internal leading”.