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A severe drought in Southeast Asia and southern China has caused the Mekong River to drop to a 50-year low. Here, a farmer's son sits on a drought-hit rice field in the suburbs of Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, last month. (Hoang Dinh Nam, AFP / Getty Images)AOL News (April 2) -- International tensions are heightening as five provinces in Southwestern China as well as a number of countries in Southeast Asia are experiencing a crippling drought.
The drought has left 18.05 million people and 10.17 million livestock short of drinking water, according to China Daily. In an affected area that contains about 7.73 million hectares of arable land, the crisis has also led to a severe food shortage as crops go unwatered and fishing streams run dry.
Still, while Chinese officials attribute the drought to a shortage of rainfall, a group of other affected countries are more inclined to place the blame on China. Some are saying that China's construction of several dams along the Mekong River, a crucial water source for the entire region, is the reason why the crisis has escalated so severely.
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