News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.
The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:
Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.
Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.
The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.
Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.
Min Aung Hlaing Takes His Roadshow to Hanoi
Myanmar's president finished a three-day visit to Vietnam on Sunday, his third stop in ASEAN since he took office in April and part of a campaign to (try to) normalize relations with a bloc that has kept him excluded from top-level meetings since 2021. To Lam and Min Aung Hlaing made a show of putting defense and security forward as "key pillar" of their relationship, with military training, officer swaps, search-and-rescue work and information sharing about cross-border crime all in the mix. Viettel, Vietnam's (military-run) telecoms group, now runs Mytel with Myanmar's military-connected partners. The delegation took time for a tour of VinFast's Hai Phong EV plant and got a pitch on digital infrastructure and cybersecurity. Despite the rosy stories, though, the money picture is less… inspiring. Two-way commerce dropped from $853 million in 2020 to $590 million in 2025, then accelerated pace a little in order to find $335 million in the first half of 2026, but that’s versus the talk of a billion dollar target. Vietnamese firms are invested in 107 active projects in Myanmar. The President’s next stop is Cambodia.
Read more: The Irrawaddy (rights criticism), Vietnam News (investment total), The Diplomat (visit count), QDND (trade target), Independent (Russia and Kazakhstan trips)
Turk Ask Council to Send Generals to The Hague
UN human rights chief Volker Turk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that member states should be sending Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. He said that credible sources have verified more than 1,200 civilian deaths, and open-source figures are even worse, with suggestions that the real figure could be more than 3,000. Turk also called for a stop to arms, ammunition, jet fuel and dual-use transfers "where there is a clear risk" they will allow for violations. A separate OHCHR document reported on 2,353 instances of Rohingya forced labor in northern Rakhine in the month of January. The grim findings included 75 counts involving children (some as young as six), as well as a booming (and unregulated) rare earths mining industry in Kachin and Shan states. The UK says military-driven displacement has passed 3.6 million. Despite Turk’s pleas, no state has yet filed an ICC referral.
Read more: Yenisafak (non-refoulement warning), Anadolu (IIMM findings), ReliefWeb (Rohingya exodus), OHCHR (rare earths), UK Government (UK statement)
Navy Triples Force to Reopen Chinese Nickel Plant
A 38-vessel Navy convoy arrived in Singu a couple of days ago, and the force is nearly three times the size of the 14- or 15-vessel flotilla (accounts differ) that left the Gaw Wein jetty in Mandalay on August 21. The earlier convoy lost seven boats to Kachin Independence Army attacks near Shwegu, and about 100 personnel surrendered. Only seven boats carrying about 800 troops in addition to weapons and food arrived in besieged Bhamo after Myanmar Air Force jets ran strikes to clear the river. The new convoy is trying to push further upstream to Tigyaing, where China Nonferrous Metal Mining and Construction's Tagaung nickel processing plant has been sitting idle since a People's Defence Force takeover in July 2024. Regime forces have retaken Tigyaing and Singu, 58 miles north of Mandalay, but there’s no confirmed date for the plant’s re-opening.
Read more: The Irrawaddy (ambush), DVB (convoy confirmation)
UNHCR Rejects Role in Malaysia's Deportation Plan
Malaysia is expected to load 1,476 Myanmar nationals onto two Navy warships and a hospital ship later this month, and the UN refugee agency says it wants nothing to do with it. UNHCR stands by its position that conditions in Myanmar are not sufficient for a safe return and referred to customary international law that prohibits sending people back to places where their rights are at risk. The sailing is expected to be the first phase of a program that will eventually include about 5,000 people. The shipment is still planned despite communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil saying last month that deportees would not be sent back "if they would either be persecuted or their lives would be threatened."
Read more: The Diplomat
Filmmaker Charged Over Drone Strike on Plane
American filmmaker Matthew Aaron VanDyke, whose 2014 documentary "Point and Shoot" won Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, is currently in Delhi's Tihar Jail after an NIA court approved his interrogation over a drone strike on a Myanmar passenger plane. The (Indian) National Investigation Agency says VanDyke and six Ukrainians ran drone-warfare training for ethnic armed groups after they crossed into Myanmar without the required permits. According to the agency, at least two FPV kamikaze drones sporting RPG-type warheads hit and damaged a Myanmar National Airlines ATR-72-600 at Myitkyina airport as passengers were boarding for a flight to Mandalay. No injuries were reported.
Read more: The Tribune (flight details), Independent (war toll), India Today (mercenary framing)
H&M Supplier Shuts Yangon Plant, 3k Jobs Gone
Teng Hui, a garment supplier to retailer H&M, has shuttered its factory in Yangon with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs. The exit is the latest in a run of foreign brands getting their garment sourcing out of Myanmar. Garments are one of the last industries that still bringing dollars in despite Western sanctions, so the loss will be felt by more than just the people who have most recently lost their jobs.
Read more: The Irrawaddy
Yangon Dams Overflow
Nga Moe Yeik Reservoir, 26 miles north of Yangon, overflowed by 2.5 feet on September 3, sending creek water into seven Hlegu Township wards. Mahura Dam is spilling 1.5 feet over its spillway and Paunglin Dam is nearing full capacity, so now nine more townships are under flash flood warnings as thunderstorms continue to be forecast in Yangon and Bago through tomorrow.
Read more: DVB (evacuation advisory)
Hpa-An Checkpoints Become Conscription Traps
Soldiers at Hpa-An's checkpoints and Thanlwin River bridges are stopping masons, shop clerks and commuters to inspect ID cards, then taking the men aside to get them conscripted. It seems that showing an ID card and proving local residence is no longer always enough to dodge the impromptu drafts. Rural villages have not yet seen open raids to grab manpower, but quotas have to be filled every three to four months, and when locals refuse to go, villages sometimes are paying migrant workers to serve as substitutes. Karen State's government has denied social media reports that Chief Minister Saw Myint Oo told officials to issue military summonses and authorize arrests if quotas ran short. Separately, in Mandalay, workshops and small businesses are losing staff as young workers quit or leave town rather than risking callup under the junta’s conscription law. Owners are reporting empty workbenches and delayed orders as young men disappear from the workforce as they go into hiding.
Read more: Karen News (checkpoints), The Irrawaddy (Mandalay conscription)
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.
If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.