1. Conceptualizing Chinese engagement in South-East Asian dam projects: evidence from Myanmar’s Salween River
- Author
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Kirchherr, Julian, Dynamics of Innovation Systems, Innovation Studies, Dynamics of Innovation Systems, and Innovation Studies
- Subjects
Chinese dam developers ,Conceptualization ,Salween River ,020209 energy ,large dams ,Hat Gyi Dam ,Political leadership ,Myanmar ,02 engineering and technology ,010501 environmental sciences ,Development ,01 natural sciences ,Corporation ,Civil engineering ,Economy ,Political science ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,China ,South east asian ,Mong Ton Dam ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Water Science and Technology ,Three gorges - Abstract
Chinese engagement in South-East Asian dam projects is usually conceptualized by scholars as directly driven by China’s political leadership as part of a larger package whose terms would only be favourable to the Chinese party. This article argues against this notion, conceptualizing Chinese engagement in South-East Asian dam projects as engagement that can also be directly driven by a Chinese dam developer in a standalone project whose terms are favourable to all contractual parties involved. The cases of the Mong Ton and Hat Gyi dams on Myanmar’s Salween River, which feature the involvement of the Chinese dam developers China Three Gorges Corporation and Sinohydro, are presented as evidence for this latter conceptualization.
- Published
- 2017