Cambodia says it will cut shipping through Vietnam by 70% with new China-funded Mekong canal

PHNOM PENH/HANOI — Cambodia plans to cut shipping through Vietnamese ports by 70 per cent as a result of a US$1.7 billion (S$2.29 billion) China-funded upgrade of a canal connecting the Mekong River basin to the Cambodian coast, the country's deputy prime minister told Reuters.

Sun Chanthol downplayed environmental concerns about the Funan Techo canal slated to break ground later this year, and dismissed speculation that it could be used to allow upriver access for Chinese warships as "baseless".

The project, to be completed by 2028, has the potential to reignite tensions between Cambodia and Vietnam, which are close partners but have often clashed.

Conservationists and Vietnamese authorities have voiced alarm at potential damage to the already fragile Mekong Delta, a massive rice-producing region supporting millions of people downstream in Vietnam.

However, while Sun Chanthol said the canal would be used also for land irrigation and fishing, he said the water that would be diverted would be "a drop in the bucket".

He said the canal's shorter route to the sea for barges and ships from and to Phnom Penh carrying textile and raw material would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cambodia had notified the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental organisation for the joint management of the basin, but would not consult other countries in the region about the project, he said.

If requested, Cambodia would provide additional information with the MRC, but had no legal obligation to do so, he said.

The MRC told Reuters that Cambodia had not shared the canal's feasibility study despite multiple requests and two formal letters sent in August and October.

A spokeswoman for Vietnam's foreign affairs ministry said in a