Lancang-Mekong nations pledge unity, greater links

Ministers agree on priority areas for collaboration to boost growth, security

China and its five Southeast Asian neighbors along the Lancang-Mekong River have agreed that, facing an unstable and uncertain world, "there is a greater need to boost unity and solidarity and to advance regional peace and stability".

Foreign Minister Wang Yi unveiled the new consensus on Thursday after he co-chaired the eighth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Beijing with Myanmar's Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs U Than Swe.

The LMC mechanism was launched in 2016 by the six Lancang-Mekong countries — China, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.