On Legislative Mechanism For China-ASEAN Internatioanl Watercourses' Protection Cooperation

Water, the origin of life, is closely related to human's survival and development. But now the world is faced with water crises. International watercourses, holding half of the fresh water capacity in the world, are very important to the world economy, social development, national security and regional stabilization. There are over 40 international rivers flowing through China and China is now facing up many problems while developing rivers to achieve its economic goals, among which the shortage of cooperative agreements and legislations both domestic and international are obvious, which helps some negative international rumors spread and"China fresh water threat"is one of them."China fresh water threat"imposes some bad influences to China,especially to China-ASEAN international watercourses'development. The riparian countries in the river basins are adjacent to each other and they are closely related like brothers. Therefore, coordinating their interest conflicts and solving their international watercourse disputes are crucially important to fulfill the regional prosperity and stabilization after CAFTA is established.International rivers due to their cross-boundary flowing have close connection with riparian countries'political and economic interest and environmental security. Cooperation is one of the basic rules for international watercourses'protection according to the international water law. It requires via cooperation, riparian interests be balanced, via cooperation, resouces be optimized in the river basins, and via cooperation, disputes be solved peacefully. The problems exist in China-ASEAN watercourses'development and protection and they can only be settled by cooperation. However, research on the legislative framework of international cooperation in this field has been emphasized commonly.Based on the status quo and problems of China-ASEAN legislative mechanism for internatioanal Watercourses'Protection Cooperation (IWPC) this paper attempts to analyze the framework of this mechanism. Mainly it illustrates how the coordinating, supervising and dispute settlement mechanism works repectively and what we can do to consummate it as well.Chapter One focuses on the basic theories of IWPC which is mainly concerned about the conception, legislative authority, necessity and feasibility for international watercourses'protection. International economic law, international environmental law and international fresh water law lay a good foundation for IWPC, e.g. Charter of Economic Rights and Duties, Declaration on the Human Environment, Draft International River Navigation Rules, Helsinki Rules and The United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses all contain articles on cooperation. So, international watercourses'protection is necessary and feasible.Chaper Two is on the legislative mechanism framework of China-ASEAN IWPC. It covers the generalization on IWPC, the status quo and framework of China-ASEAN IWPC. IWPC mechanism is a general term for all cooperation measures to guarantee the normal function of water resource and ecological system during the development and application of international rivers. It is embodied in the organizational body, legal institutions, legal documents and organizing forms, etc. Madam Yanmei, He made a bold research in this aspect and puts forward that the framework of cooperation in internation water resources'development and protection covers such commitment as data collecting and exchanging, noticing, coordinating and negotiating, signing the river basin areements, establishing the cooperative organization in the basin, abiding by the review and seeking for a peacefull settlement for international water disputes. Among the four international watercourses between China and ASEAN, Lanchang Jiang-Mekong River enjoys a higher level of development over the other three. Some achievements have been made in the development cooperation but problems still exist, among which legislative problems are comparatively more outstanding. China-ASEAN and sub-area treaties as well as riparian bilateral agreements stipulate coopearion in IWP, which lays a good foundation for constructing and completing the IWPC legislative mechanism. From the international practice and academic research result, China-ASEAN IWPC legislative mechanism is mainly composed of coordinating, supervising and dispute settlement mechanism.Chapter Three is centered on the legislative coordinating mechanism for China-ASEAN IWPC. The mechanims consists of coordinating subjects, operating procedures, coordinating objects, coordinating problems, coordinating institutions, legal documents, etc. Among them subjects, legal institutions and legal ducuments are core factors for the mechanism. This mechanism can be categorized into three levels: China-ASEAN level, sub-area level and riparian bilateral level. Some progresses have been made in its coordinating mechanism but there is a long way to the Danube model in Europe. Even worse China doesn't play its right role in the coordinating mechanims, which prevents the IWPC from a far-reaching level development. Hence, it's urgent to consummate China-ASEAN IWPC legislative mechanism.Chaper Four analyzes China-ASEAN IWPC supervising mechanism on its status quo, causes and disadvantages. Such international watercourse conventions as Helsinki Rules, the London Protocol on Water and Health and Arhus Convention requires for supervision in IWPC. Some supervising meausres have been adopted and proved to be effective in the course of IWPC practice, e.g. standardized environment, hydrological monitoring, data collecting, public participating and environmental evaluating and so on. These legislative measures have played important roles in IWPC. In comparison to the Danube and the Rhine, the Five Great Lakes, China-ASEAN IWPC supervising mechanism is at a very low level due to some political, economic and historic reasons. To construct and complete supervising mechanism for China-ASEAN IWPC should be the goal both parties will be striving for.Chapter Five discusses China-ASEAN IWPC dispute settlement mechanism from the aspects of general theories, status quo, water disputes and their settlement. China-ASEAN IWPC dispute settlement mechanism consists of the dipute settlement body, procedures, principles and measures, etc. Legislative authorities for IWPC dipute settlement can be traced back to some international watercourse dispute cases, international conventions like Helsinki Rules, Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses and others. A set of legal institutions have been established for IWPC disputes settlement, inluding the negotiation and consultation, mediation and conciliation, investigation and settlement, compulsory investigation, international arbitration and international litigation, etc. The present China-ASEAN IWPC dispute settlement mechanism is not designed for internatioanal watercourses'disputes,its scope of accepting cases is limited and the settlement proceures are optionally few. So riparian countries should take some measures to prevent or settle disputes and try to lay a solid foundation for a fair China-ASEAN IWPC dispute settlement mechanism.Chapter Six offers a proposal for cosummating a perfect and efficient China-ASEAN IWPC legislative mechanism in four ways, i.e. adhering to right conceptions, choosing proper management models, substaintializing legislative base and making some remedies for present mechanism. Combining the world famous international watercourses'situation, China-ASEAN IWPC legislative mechanism should aim at"Regional & River Basin Integrated Management"and"River Basin Autonomous Management", signing more regional and river basin agreements, consummating relative institutions and so on in order to construct an equal, fair, efficient and soundlegislative mechanism and fulfill the sustainable development of China-ASEAN international watercourses and an all-round construction for CAFTA.In all, coordinating mechanism, supervising mechanism and dispute settlement mechanism constitute the framework of IWPC legislation mechanism. China-ASEAN IWPC coordinating mechanism has been fundamentally formed but problems exist. The supervising mechanism has some serious disadvantages and needs to be upgraded. The dispute settlement mechanism is considerably limited in its professionalism and case scope and yet to be improved. It's a long way to achive an efficient, eligible and sound China-ASEAN IWPC legislative mechanism but it is of great value for CAFTA development and regional sustainability and of great help to dissipate the rumor"China Water Threat".