(Xinhua, Phnom Penh, 11 January 2018) China eyes stronger ties with Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, the other five countries along the Lancang-Mekong river, pledging new loans, medical aids and scholarships to its neighbors. At the second Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) leaders’ meeting here, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced that China will provide another 7 billion yuan (1.08 billion U.S. dollars) in government concessional loans and also the setup of a 5-billion-dollar credit line for supporting production capacity and equipment manufacturing cooperation among the Lancang-Mekong countries. As an important mechanism along the Lancang-Mekong River sub-region, the LMC mechanism has been focusing on sustainable development and pragmatic cooperation in the sub-region and serving as an important platform for implementing the Belt and Road Initiative.
