Chinese assistant foreign minister Hu Zhengyue told Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva during a meeting at Government House that Chinese dams on the upper Mekong in Yunnan province made no significant impact on water flow into the lower part of the river, according to an official at the meeting.

Beijing and local administrators paid a lot of attention to drought within the region and China would not do anything to damage mutual interests with neighbouring countries in the Mekong, Hu was quoted as telling Abhisit.

The PM told Hu people living in the lower Mekong region were worried about the drought as they had no clear information about the dams in China. It would be useful if there was a forum for experts to share information, he said.

"China plays a significant role in regional development and I believe China does not want to see people in the lower Mekong basin in difficulties," Abhisit was quoted as saying to Hu.

Foreign minister Kasit Piromya, who met Hu separately, said countries in the lower Mekong should not blame China for the drought since 35 per cent of the river's water supply came from rain in Laos. The dams in China held only 4 per cent of total water in the Mekong, he said.

"We should not blame each other but should find ways to cooperate with China for water management of the Mekong," Kasit told reporters.

Thai natural resource and environment minister Suwit Khunkitti said separately that Chinese dams were not a big contributing factor to the drought in the Mekong basin. There are many other factors in the region that could have caused the river's low water level, he said.

"It is difficult to blame China, as it shares only some 15 per cent of the water flow. Water supply to the river from Thailand and Laos is more than half of the total," he said.

However, the Mekong River Commission would invite representatives from China and Burma, to meet as dialogue partners of the commission, to discuss the issue at a meeting next month, he said.

"The problem is that we don't have sufficient information about water in Chinese dams and we also have a problem of water management," he said.

"We have to find better solutions for water management otherwise we will face drought in the dry season and flood in the wet season," Suwit said.

China has been blamed for controlling water flow into the Mekong since it began operating three hydropower dams with a combined reservoir capacity of three billion cubic metres on the mainstream of the Mekong in Yunnan province.

A fourth dam is under construction at Xiaowan and due for completion in 2012. With a height of nearly 300 metres, the Xiaowan dam, if completed, will be the world's highest dam, with a reservoir capable of holding 15 billion cubic metres of water.

The Mekong River Commission said recently river levels in southwest China were at their lowest in 50 years, with water flowing at only half the level that would be considered normal for February.