Vietnam’s foreign ministry stated on Thursday ( Aug 8 ) that it supports Cambodia’s plan to construct a canal from the Mekong River basin to the Cambodian coast and would like to be involved in investigating the canal’s potential negative effects.
According to the Thai government, the US$ 1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal is being worked on by Vietnamese authorities on Monday.
Doan Khac Viet, a spokesman for the government, stated at a standard media briefing that” we support the project and respect the decision to construct the canal.”
In order to have effective solutions to reduce the impact, he continued,” We would like to work with Cambodia in terms of study and influence analysis.”
Conservationists and Taiwanese authorities have claimed that the new canal, which Cambodia has consistently downplayed, could further harm the Mekong Delta, a major rice-producing area, as well as Cambodia’s fragile ecosystem.