David R. Stilwell, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, accused that China has been manipulating the water flows along the Mekong for 25 years, with greatest disruption in natural flows. Mr. Stilwell also criticized the Chinese government's major dam construction and operation and their lack of transparency on water data. In the context of the newly-launched U.S - Mekong Partnership, Nhu Nguyen, an independent journalist from Vietnam, asked the Assistant Secretary David R. Stilwell for his comment on a sensitive diplomatic situation, in which Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian condemned Stilwell's statement as an action of creating a dispute between China and the Mekong countries. Meanwhile, some researchers also question the validity of the U.S. scientific data publicly published by the Eyes on Earth organization. From Washington D.C today, Mr. Stilwell answered Nhu Nguyen's question as follows:
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| Assistant Secretary David R. Stilwell |
Nhu Nguyen (Vietnam): Recently, the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed your comment on the cause of China’s lack of data sharing of hydro power in the Mekong River system. Meanwhile, some independent scientific research from Finland and the Mekong River Commission said that the data collection and the scientific research submitted by the Eyes on Earth organization is not scientifically correct. Do you have any comment on this?
Assistant Secretary David R. Stilwell (Washington D.C): I do. In the most broad terms, in the biggest picture, I think the information that comes from an open, transparent, and verifiable source is preferable to information that comes from two Chinese scientific outlets that you can’t verify, that you can’t talk to, and whose information is not readily accessible. And again, and the larger picture here is the information environment in the PRC being so closed and with the Great Firewall and all of those things, it has demonstrated the reason why you have a free media, and why you answer question like this to regional Media Hubs like this and all the rest, because the media has a very important role in terms of transparency.
And so, if the media chose to check the facts on whether one source of data is accurate or not, the Eyes on Earth data is, it’s readily available and easily checked, whereas I don’t think you’ll have that same luck with the data the Chinese put out from their two supposedly independent sources. You need transparency. And that’s a big part of this message, is there a restriction of water into the region? In Vietnam, it’s having devastating effects in the Mekong Delta both on the fertility of the land and on fisheries and all the rest. I mean downstream water rights is an issue that absolutely needs to be addressed and has to be addressed in a way that’s respectful of the rights of those downstream.
Quick facts about Assistant Secretary David R. Stilwell
Current position: the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific. Date of appointment: June 20, 2019.
Important facts:
He is a veteran of Misawa Air Base, two tours, six total years of flying F-16s. He speaks Korean, Chinese, and limited Japanese.
He served in the Air Force for 35 years, beginning as an enlisted Korean linguist in 1980, and retiring in 2015 in the rank of Brigadier General as the Asia advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He served multiple tours of duty in Japan and Korea as a linguist, a fighter pilot, and a commander. He also served as the Defense Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 2011-2013. Most recently, Mr. Stilwell served as the Director of the China Strategic Focus Group at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii 2017-2019 and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the East West Center in Honolulu from 2016-2019. He earned a B.S. in History from the U.S. Air Force Academy (1987), and a Master’s Degree in Asian Studies and Chinese language from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1988) and is a 2009 graduate of the Executive Leadership program at the Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Awards:
David R. Stilwell was awarded the Department of Defense Superior Service Award in 2015.
