385 



plicated to trace but generally reflecting the desires of leadership in 

 the four countries to reconcile retention of political control with eco- 

 nomic and social advance. Relationships among the four countries 

 were conditioned by all these factors, as well as by the historical tradi- 

 tion of conflict and mistrust, and the growing awareness of the op- 

 portunities for the future from the application of western technology 

 and organization. To differing degrees, the centralizing influence of 

 national government ran up against the strong prior loyalties to ex- 

 tended family and community. In some cases, groups remote from the 

 capital would identify their own national capital as the foremost 

 threat to their own security. Urban localities quickly became west- 

 ernized while rural communities preserved much of their traditional 

 culture and local loyalties. 



Injected into this situation was the long war, first against the 

 French, and then a revolution presenting a mixture of nationalistic 

 and ideological elements. As the power struggle went on, the tech- 

 nological level of the combat rose, with both sides receiving outside 

 equipment and training. As of mid-May 1972, the ultimate resolution 

 of this war remained an uncertainty, and none of the four national 

 governments was able to exercise complete sovereignty over all parts 

 of its domain. 



Early Planning for Development of the Mekong, 1952-1957 



A succession of three studies between early 1952 and the close of 

 1957 helped give tangible form to the concept of a regional develop- 

 ment program for the Lower Basin of the Mekong. Earlier planning 

 had been concerned almost exclusively with downstream navigation. 27 

 The first general study, initiated in 1951 at the request of ECAFE, in- 

 structed the Bureau of Flood Control and Water Resources Develop- 

 ment to report on the problems and opportunities of international riv- 

 ers in Asia. The Bureau chose to focus on the Mekong. Its 18-page 

 study, published in May 1952 under the title "Preliminary Report on 

 Technical Problems Relating to Flood Control and Water Resources, 

 Development of the Mekong — an International River," dealt optimisti- 

 cally with the engineering possibilities of the region but called atten- 

 tion to the lack of hard information needed for operational planning. 

 According to an active participant in the program, this brief report 

 attracted favorable interest by providing ammunition to ECAFE for 

 its own planning on a wider scope, because it was "international," and 

 because "it cited exciting specific possibilities such as the possible de- 

 velopment of firm power between Vientiane and Luang Prabang and 

 the diversion of the flow of the Mekong for irrigating the vast area in 

 North-Eastern Thailand." 28 However, the report also admitted that 

 "resources have not yet been explored" and until military activity in 

 the eastern portion of the basin had subsided, field surveys to secure the 

 necessary data were not feasible. 



With the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954, which had the 

 effect of separating North and South Vietnam, the political situation 



27 In 1949, a Convention was signed by France, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam (redrafted 

 in 1954 to exclude France) concerning navigation on the Mekong. Under its terms the 

 contracting parties agreed, among other things, to take concerted action on "Programs for 

 improvement of waterways, their installations and equipment" as well as projects bene- 

 ficial to industry or agriculture to the extent that such projects might obstruct navigation. 



28 Schaff and Fifield, The Lower Mekong. 



