Impact of China's Rise on the Mekong Region

Jean Chih-ying Cheng, National Tsinghua University, TaiwanBien Chiang, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica and Graduate Institute of Anthropology, National Tsingha University, TaiwanNguyen Van Chinh, Vietnam National University-Hanoi, VietnamPinkaew Laungaramsri, Chiang Mai University, ThailandRomyen Kosaikanont, Mae Fah Luang University, ThailandAranya Siriphon, Chiang Mai University, ThailandTouch Siphat, Department of Training and Research, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Hsing-Chou Sung, Tunghai University, TaiwanKhine Tun, Asia Development Research Institute, Myanmar

"Impact of China's Rise on the Mekong Region, edited by Yos Santasombat, is one of the few scholarly works to date that explores the nature of such change. The book makes an important contribution to understanding these new Chinese-Southeast Asian engagements on numerous counts." (Antonella Diana, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Vol. 37 (3), December, 2015) 'Yos Santasombat is one of the most prolific and innovative anthropologists in Asia. This time, [ ] he assembles a group of researchers from different countries and disciplines in Asia [whose] nuanced research [ ] presents a comprehensive view of China's involvements in this region. Their findings are eye-opening, informative, and timely.' Shu-min Huang, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan 'The transnational and interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Yos Santasombat competently scrutinizes the multi-faceted interactions between China and its mainland Southeast Asian neighbors, covering a wide range of topics such as trade, migration, transnationalism, eco-geographic strategies, and environment. This timely study makes an important contribution to the ongoing academic and policy debates about a rising China and its global reach.' - Hong Liu, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, author of China and the Shaping of Indonesia, 1949-1965 'This volume provides fresh perspectives from experts on the Mekong Region on how China's neighbors have dealt with its initiatives in the Mekong Delta. A timely effort that will serve as a window to understand the way China's growth has affected the rest of Southeast Asia.' - Danny Wong Tze Ken, University of Malaya, Malaysia

• Table of Contents List of Illustrations List of Contributors Preface Introduction 1. China's Geo-Economic Strategy Towards the Riparian States of the Mekong Region; Hsing-Chou Sung 2. China's 'Comrade Money' and its Social - Political Dimensions in Vietnam; Nguyen Van Chinh 3. Changing Landscape and Changing Ethnoscape in Lao PDR: on PRC's Participation in the Greater Mekong Subregion Development Project; Bien CHIANG and Jean Chih-ying CHENG 4. Commodifying Sovereignty: Special Economic Zones and the Neoliberalization of the Lao Frontier; Pinkaew Laungaramsri 5. 'Xinyimin', New Chinese migrants and the Influence of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan on the Northern Thai Border; Aranya Siriphon 6. CHINA-MYANMAR: Towards More Balanced and Better Neighborhood; Khine Tun 7. Patterns and Impacts of Chinese Assistance in Cambodia ; Touch Siphat 8. The Internationalization of Renminbi: the Encroaching of the Variegated Dragon ; Romyen Kosaikanont