SINGAPORE — China says it remains a developing country despite its rapid rise in the league of global power. By some measures, it is now the world's third-biggest economy and second-largest exporter. However gauged, China is clearly a nation with increasing impact and influence, especially if you live in nearby Southeast Asia.

So it comes as no surprise that China is blamed these days for local troubles almost as much as the United States, which Beijing says it will never emulate. The latest finger-pointing at China comes in the wake of devastating floods in parts of northern Thailand and Laos after the Mekong, Southeast Asia's largest river, overflowed its banks, inundating villages and rice fields and leaving a swath of destruction that will cost many millions of dollars to repair.

The water level Aug. 15 at Vientiane, the capital of Laos on the banks of the Mekong, was the highest since records began in 1913. Although it has dropped since then, low-lying regions in Cambodia and the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam are bracing for similar damage as the floodwaters move downstream.