As the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism, initiated by the six international locations of the area in 2016 to construct a neighborhood with a shared way forward for peace and prosperity, marks its tenth anniversary, regional science and know-how innovation cooperation has improved vastly. Multiple fields present substantive outcomes, together with aerospace, agriculture, water useful resource administration and digital know-how.
China continues implementing the Lancang-Mekong Space Cooperation Plan with Mekong international locations. It launched the “Fudan-1 Lancang-Mekong Future Star” in 2024, and supported Fudan University in establishing the Research Center for Lancang-Mekong Youth Astronomical Sciences, an essential platform for the six international locations for trade and cooperation in house statement and know-how software.
Chinese agricultural know-how has contributed to poverty discount and industrial transformation within the area.
For instance, the Spice and Beverage Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) has collaborated with the Lancang-Mekong Agricultural Cooperation Center to advertise disease-resistant cultivation strategies in Cambodia, which elevated the native pepper manufacturing by over 22 p.c and annual revenue of farmers by 1,000 USD. This undertaking was listed as one of many international finest poverty discount practices.
The Rubber Research Institute of CATAS, cooperating with establishments from Mekong international locations, has launched an indication undertaking on rubber tree cultivation and processing strategies to scale back environmental air pollution and injury to timber whereas serving to improve the regional rubber trade.
The sustainable administration and utilization of water sources is one other essential cooperation discipline. The six international locations have established the Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Center and an data sharing platform, making use of superior applied sciences for local weather change mitigation and adaptation, catastrophe administration, hydrological information monitoring and sharing, and water-related infrastructure development.
For innovation-driven improvement and bridging the digital divide, the Lancang-Mekong international locations accelerated the implementation of the Joint Initiatives on the LMC Innovation Corridor Development. China has proposed establishing a computing-infrastructure cooperation community with Mekong international locations based mostly on the Lancang-Mekong Cloud Computing Innovation Center to assist regional AI capability constructing and digital improvement.
To facilitate the mixing of the regional digital financial system, the six international locations collectively launched an initiative on know-how cooperation for cross-border information flows in November 2025. It goals to enhance information governance, digital infrastructure, AI and blockchain know-how R&D in addition to functions.
Editor：WANG Xiaoxia