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A Catalyst for Transboundary Cooperation? POLICY BRIEF Water International Number 10 IWRA August 2018 China’s Upstream Dilemma: A Catalyst for Transboundary Cooperation? ■ Tributary of Upper Mekong (Lancang) River. © Feng Hu, March 2011. WI and IWRA Policy Briefs are published KEY POLICY MESSAGES by IWRA with the support of Routledge. They aim to provide high quality analysis • Transboundary water cooperation is incremental, evolutionary and practical recommendations for policy and multi-pronged. makers on important development issues. • Access Water International by becoming a member • Such cooperation is at an early stage in Asia, home to 57 of IWRA: www.iwra.org transboundary watercourses many of which are without formal • or subscribe only to the journal at: cooperation arrangements. www.tandfonline.com/toc/rwin20/current • In particular, China, as a major upstream riparian is well-placed IWRA Policy Briefs are based on WI Special Issues and are for to catalyze regional water cooperation, but faces an “upstream the purpose of stimulating discussion and awareness; IWRA, as a neutral forum, does not necessarily endorse the views dilemma”. expressed. • International law offers untapped potential for advancing regional cooperation in Asia. POLICY BRIEF / China’s Upstream Dilemma / www.iwra.org TRANSBOUNDARY WATER Of particular interest are China’s transboundary ■ Hydropower development on the Mekong River, border of Laos and Thailand. © Olli Varis. March 2005. MANAGEMENT ACROSS ASIA water resources that originate in the country’s AND THE UPSTREAM DILEMMA southwest, known as Asia’s ‘Water Tower’, the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau. At present, the massive volumes of these waters are still free Many of the approximately 263 transboundary flowing compared to many of China’s other river basins and 300 transboundary aquifers rivers (He et al. 2014). But as China and its across the world lack rigorous frameworks downstream riparians seek to fuel economic for their joint management. Asia, the most growth through their exploitation, these flows populous continent, its multitude of countries are becoming a strategic resource for all connected by 57 transboundary watercourses, parties. As the upstream riparian, China must is no exception (Schmeier, 2013). Given the meet domestic imperatives (especially diverse populations, cultures, economies and economic, social and environmental concerns) politics of the region, transboundary water while taking into account the needs of other cooperation faces significant hurdles, but is riparians in accordance with international law- growing. - an ‘upstream dilemma’. Most of Asia’s transboundary watercourses, over 40, originate in China. These basins feed more than half of the global population. With MOTIVATING the hydro-geographic advantage, China’s TRANSBOUNDARY WATER low vulnerability provides it with significant COOPERATION REFERENCES political and economic leverage. All the From Water International 2014 more so as downstream riparians on many How can China take into consideration the Issue 5: The China Water Papers, Part 1 of these transboundary waters lack adequate needs of its downstream neighbours, while • Yu Su. Contemporary legal analysis governance. Together with their geographical meeting national needs and demands? of china’s transboundary water regimes: international law in practice. position, this makes them quite vulnerable. The contributions to Transboundary Water Cooperation, a Routledge volume arising from • Marleen van Rijswick, Jurian Edelenbos, Petra Hellegers, Matthijs Kok & Stefan special issues of Water International, offer Kuks. Ten building blocks for sustainable CHINA’S DOWNSTREAM several important insights. water governance: an integrated method RIPARIANS to assess the governance of water. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Foremost among these is that transboundary • Karin Vink. Transboundary water Cambodia, India, Kazakhstan, water cooperation is incremental, evolutionary law and vulnerable people: legal interpretations of the ‘equitable use’ Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, and multi-pronged (Leb, 2015). Upstream principle. Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, riparians have myriad opportunities for better • Liping Dai. Exploring China’s approach Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, advancing cooperation with those downstream to implementing ‘eco-compensation’ schemes: the Lake Tai watershed as case Vietnam by drawing on shared environmental, economic and social values and mobilizing study considered through a legal lens. POLICY BRIEF / China’s Upstream Dilemma / www.iwra.org REFERENCES From Water International 2015 Issue 1: The China Water Papers, Part 2: Transboundary Water Cooperation • Christina Leb. One step at a time: international law and the duty to cooperate in the management of shared water resources. • Jing Lee. The governance of wetland ecosystems and the promotion of transboundary water cooperation – opportunities presented by the Ramsar Convention. • Owen McIntyre. Benefit-sharing and upstream/downstream cooperation for ecological protection of transboundary waters: opportunities for China as an upstream state. • Xiuli Han. Approaches to investment in Chinese transboundary waters. • Liping Dai. A new perspective on water governance in China: Captain of the River. • Vivian Louis Forbes. Mapping Asia’s trans-boundary waters, with a focus on China. • Mirja Kattelus, Matti Kummu, Marko Keskinen, Aura Samivaara & Olli Varis. China’s southbound transboundary river basins: a case of asymmetry. ■ Broken bridge between China and North Korea on Yalu River. © Rheins. May 2011. • Seungho Lee. Benefit sharing in the Mekong River basin. • Aysegül Kibaroglu. An analysis of multidisciplinary expertise – in law and policy Two global instruments are now in force Turkey’s water diplomacy and its evolving as well as science. In implementing its ‘good governing transboundary waters – United position vis-à-vis international water law. • Bo Libert. The UNECE Water Convention neighbour’ policy, China can explore the Nations Convention on the Law of the Non- and the development of transboundary community-of-interests with its neighbours and navigational uses of International Watercourses cooperation in the Chu-Talas, Kura, Drink other international partners through increasing (UNWC) and the UNECE Convention on and Dneister River basins. integration. As China’s prosperity becomes the Protection and Use of Transboundary • Velma I. Grover & Gail Krantzberg. more and more intertwined with that of its Watercourses and International Lakes (UNECE Transboundary water management: lessons learnt from North America. neighbours, it can draw on the framework Water Convention). China is party to neither • Emma S. Norman & Karen Bakker. Do provided by international law to advance instrument. With the exception of Kazakhstan good fences make good neighbours? equitable and reasonable sharing of benefits and Vietnam, neither are any of China’s 17 Canada-United States transboundary across national borders, including the uses of riparians. Citing concerns of sovereignty water governance, the Boundary transboundary waters (Lee, 2015). among other things, China even voted against Waters Treaty, and twenty-first century challenges. the UNWC at the UN General Assembly in 1997. STRENGTHENING From Water International 2015 COOPERATION: THE UNTAPPED Despite this, the 50-some treaties that do Issue 2: The China Water Papers, govern China’s transboundary waters in many Part 3: Transboundary Water Cooperation POTENTIAL OF THE GLOBAL in Asia with a focus on China ways reflect the normative frameworks of the CONVENTIONS • Huiping Chen. The human right to water UNWC and UNECE Water Convention in and foreign investment: friends or foes? scope, substantive and procedural rules, and • Yanmei He. China’s practice on the International law is founded on the integral institutional and dispute settlement mechanisms non-navigational uses of transboundary principles of state sovereignty and the duty (Su, 2014). In tailoring and applying these waters: transforming diplomacy through to cooperate that are enshrined in the UN rules of international law. frameworks to the Asian context, China Charter and customary law. These principles • Yan Feng, Daming He & Wenling Wang. could catalyse regional transboundary water are expressed in ‘reciprocity’ which guides Identifying China’s transboundary water cooperation in three ways: risks and vulnerabilities – a multidisciplinary states towards fair and balanced outcomes 1) implementing its ‘good neighbor’ analysis using hydrological data and (Devlaeminck, 2018). At the same time, we policy through more complete legal/institutional settings. need to recognize the tension between these • Bjørrn-Oliver Magsig. Water security transboundary water cooperation; two principles in practice. In particular, it is in Himalayan Asia: First stirrings of 2) connecting its national and global necessary to find principles and practical regional cooperation? environmental policies to enhance • Yang Liu. Transboundary water processes to realize the overarching duty to transboundary water cooperation, and cooperation on the Yarlung Zangbo/ cooperate in the shared beneficial uses of 3) linking investment and trade issues to Brahmaputra – a legal analysis of riparian shared freshwaters. transboundary water cooperation efforts. state practice. POLICY BRIEF / China’s Upstream Dilemma / www.iwra.org A SELECTION OF CHINA’S TREATY PRACTICE REFERENCES MoU on the Provision of Hydrological Data on Langqen 2005 Additional References Zangbo/Sutlej during the Flood Season
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