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Dysprosium Doesn't Stop at the Border
Satellite mapping published in December 2025 picked out 517 sites that are suspected to be involved with rare earth mining along Lao rivers. That figure is up from 27 mines counted in a previous effort by the Stimson Center. Civil conflict in Myanmar's Kachin and Shan states has disrupted the feedstock corridors that Chinese refiners spent years depending on, and the China-Laos Railway now offers an alternative route north. The geology is also helping as ion-adsorption clay deposits in Xieng Khouang and Houaphanh provinces carry rare earth concentrations of 400 to 700 parts per million. That’s a very similar environmental formation to that which has made southern China's highlands worth fighting over. Chinese-connected operators have moved into the space quickly, partly because there is no institutional force pushing back. Vientiane's debt position toward Beijing is well documented, and enforcement capacity (to say nothing of appetite) in the northern provinces is thin. Dysprosium and terbium have no meaningful separation or refining infrastructure outside China, which still controls the downstream chemistry that turns clay into magnets.
Read more: Eurasia Review (Laos debt figure), Rare Earth Exchanges (Myanmar disruption)
Swapping Notes on Scam Compounds
Security ministers from Laos and Cambodia convened in Phnom Penh to sign a cooperation deal in which they agree to share intelligence across their shared border. The meetup follows crackdowns in Bokeo and Savannakhet that resulted in 1,347 arrests during April and May. The new pact will work toward closer coordination between border provinces and investment in checkpoints and crossing infrastructure. Cambodia's interior minister Sar Sokha also briefed his Lao counterpart on the Thailand border situation and thanked Vientiane for supporting the Asean Observer Team that’s monitoring the dispute.
Read more: The Star
Vientiane Trades Landlocked for Land-Linked
Laos and Thailand signed an MOU in Bangkok standardizing Mekong navigation safety and pollution rules. The two waterway departments agreed on five regulations for traffic management, inspections, emergency response, search-and-rescue, and crew certification. A Bilateral Steering Committee will be given half a year to stand up, and eight more regulations will come into force by 2035. The deal is coming as a follow-on to the 1995 Mekong Agreement, and officials were careful to flag freedom of navigation alongside the safety rules. The Lao delegation also took a tour of Thai port infrastructure, traffic control centers, and maritime training facilities.
Read more: Nation Thailand (crew competency certifications), The Star (signing officials)
Vientiane Bets on Hainan as Saltwater Workaround
Viengsavang Thipphavong, at the Lao Institute for Industry, told China Daily that Hainan's seaports could give landlocked Laos a maritime gateway under RCEP. Agricultural products like bananas, cassava, and rubber are front-of-mind. The pitch is that good will be able to move north by rail through Boten to Chinese ports, then out from there to third-country markets. The Laos-China Railway already handles the first bit, and it’s expected that Hainan's Free Trade Port, with its simplified customs and expanded trade access, would cover the ocean leg.
Read more: The Star
Vientiane Bets on Wrenches Over Diplomas
A nationwide vocational education campaign was launched at Vientiane Secondary School, sending educators and successful alumni into school assemblies to make the case that tourism, agriculture, and hospitality jobs remain unfilled even as graduates chase academic credentials that the labor market doesn't want. The Ministry of Education and Sports hopes to reach 150,000 people in at least nine provinces through 2026 and 2027.
Read more: The Star (COVID enrollment decline), The Star (deputy minister quotes)
Three Countries With One Brochure
Laos and Vietnam signed a five-year culture and tourism cooperation plan in Vientiane on May 12 to try and keep Vietnam among its top inbound markets. Inked by ministers Suanesavanh Vignaket and Lam Thi Phuong Thanh, the deal sets up a coordination committee for the newly-listed transboundary World Heritage Site that covers both of Laos's Hin Nam No and Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang national parks, and will run technical cooperation in film, publishing, and libraries through 2030. Both sides also agreed to push the "three countries, one destination" pitch along with Cambodia. Hanoi is hosting a trilateral tourism ministers' meeting at the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Expo.
Read more: Asian News Network
Plain of Jars Gives Up Its Tenants
A stone jug a little over two meters across at Site 75 on the Xieng Khouang Plateau has settled a century-old argument. The Plain of Jars was, in fact, a burial complex. The jar held the remains of at least 37 people, placed there at intervals between 890 and 1160, along with multicolored glass beads that were made in India. Skulls were arranged along the edges; arm and leg bones bunched together, suggesting that the jar was a final stop rather than the first one, with bodies likely "distilled" in smaller jars nearby before the bones were moved in.
Read more: Sciencenews (ancestor worship), Livescience (researcher attribution)
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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