Water Diplomacy:Transboundary Water Cooperation And Conflict Between China And The Mekong Countries

This paper is aimed to analyze and solve the transboundary water cooperation and conflict between China and the Mekong Countries(Myanmar,Laos,Thailand,Cambodia and Vietnam)by Water Diplomacy.Ismail Serageldin,former vice president of the World Bank in charge of environmental and social sustainable development,pointed out that "If the wars of this century are fought over oil,the wars of the next century will be fought over water-unless we change our approach to managing this precious and vital resource".With climate change and the increasing demand for transboundary water between countries,the discussion about transboundary river has far exceeded the technical scope.It becomes more politicized,and tends to be the most urgent,complicated and controversial issue that the international community must address.As a result,the United Nations and countries(including China)start to actively advocate and study how to address the transboundary water cooperation and conflict by Water Diplomacy.Water Diplomacy begins to rise as a new theory gradually.The Mekong River is one of the four major hot spots of water conflict around the world.It is one of the important rivers in China’s transboundary water development.With the deepening of the development of the relationship between China and the Mekong Countries,the Mekong River transboundary water issue becomes one of the major hidden dangers therein,and it profoundly affects the deepening of the transboundary water cooperation level,the promotion of the regional relations,the security of Southwest China and China’s strategic layout in Southeast Asia.It is urgent for China to resolve the issue of transboundary water development with the Mekong Countries,lower the development costs,reduce water investment risks and prevent transboundary water from becoming a strategic blow to the Mekong region by Water Diplomacy.The research ideas and main contents of this paper are as follows:First,construct the basic theory and analysis framework of Water Diplomacy,study the definition,core,basic attribute,legitimacy,function and performance evaluation system of it,and put forward that "Water Diplomacy is an activity carried out by a government or an international governmental organization through traditional and technical means with another(multi)country or international governmental organization in order to ensure the needs of transboundary water development or the strategic significance of water margin." Second,take the case of the transboundary water development between China and the Mekong Countries for example to explore the issues and root causes of the cooperation and conflict of transboundary water development between the two parties and analyze the action and response mode of China’s Water Diplomacy in it.Thirdly,evaluate the performance of China’s Water Diplomacy in such areas as the development of transboundary water,the promotion of water economy and trade relations,the performance of water competition,the regulation of water public opinion,the assistance of diplomatic strategy and the construction of geopolitical order.Fourthly,put forward both the concrete escalation path and advancing strategy of China’s Water Diplomacy in the Mekong River transboundary water cooperation and conflict,and prospects the future development trend of it.The main themes and points are as follows:Chapter One is titled The Basic Theory of Water Diplomacy.This chapter mainly constructs the theory and analytical framework of Water Diplomacy.The first section briefly analyzes the concepts that are similar to Water Diplomacy like Water Politics or Hydropolitics,Water Management,Water Cooperation,Blue Diplomacy,River Diplomacy,and Liquid Diplomacy etc.,grasps and rationalizes the research perspective and idea of Water Diplomacy.On the basis of the discussion of the English translation methodology of Water Diplomacy,the second section mainly focuses on the analysis of the origin and context,definition,core,attribute and legitimacy of Water Diplomacy,and provides theoretical support and analysis framework for the analysis of the specific cases of transboundary water cooperation and conflict.The third section mainly discusses the concrete functions and corresponding performance evaluation system of Water Diplomacy in the aspects like the development of transboundary water,the promotion of water economic and trade relations,the performance of water competition,the regulation of water public opinion,the assistance of diplomatic strategy and the construction of geopolitical order.Chapter Two is titled Transboundary Water Cooperation between China and the Mekong Countries from the perspective of Water Diplomacy.This chapter examines the transboundary water cooperation between China and the Mekong Countries from the perspective of Water Diplomacy.The first section briefly analyzes the concept,characteristics and importance of transboundary water,focuses on the physical geography of the Mekong River,analyzes the origin of the Mekong River and the distribution characteristics of water as well as the related data.These are not only the basis of the Mekong River cooperation but also the source of the dispute;even more,it is the important content that needs paying attention to in the implementation of Water Diplomacy.The second section mainly discusses the contents of the four aspects of the transboundary water cooperation between China and the Mekong Countries,namely,the construction of water conservancy facilities,the development of shipping economy and safety function,the information and technical cooperation,and regional water management.The third section mainly analyzes China’s unique Water Diplomacy mode in the transboundary water cooperation with the Mekong Countries and captures the characteristics of its operation.Chapter Three is titled The Transboundary Water Conflict between China and the Mekong Countries from the Perspective of Water Diplomacy.This chapter explores the transboundary water conflict between China and the Mekong Countries from the perspective of Water Diplomacy.The first section mainly analyzes the concrete contents of the conflict in the areas like water resources,water channel,water public opinion,water management rights and water competition between China and the Mekong Countries.The second section points out that the root causes for different kinds of conflicts in transboundary water are the lack of experience of China’s Water Diplomacy construction,the contradictory concept and opposition angle in the transboundary water development,the shortage of effective water management mechanism in the region,the difference of the water development needs of the actors within the basin and the interruption of the water development intent of the actors outside the basin as well as the lack of construction of mutual trust between countries within the basin.The third section mainly analyzes China’s response mode in the transboundary waterconflicts and summarizes the characteristics of China’s Water Diplomacy in coping with transboundary water conflicts.Chapter Four is titled The Performance Evaluation of China’s Water Diplomacy in the Mekong River Transboundary Water Cooperation and Conflict.This chapter mainly analyzes the actual implementation performance of China’s Water Diplomacy in the Mekong River transboundary water cooperation and conflict.In the first section,on the basis of the performance evaluation criteria of the transboundary water development rights,it is pointed out that China’s Water Diplomacy has ensured the development of most water projects in the Chinese watershed,and has basically ensured the development of water projects outside its watershed.In the second section,based on the analysis of the performance evaluation criteria of water economic and trade relations,it is pointed out that China’s Water Diplomacy provides a guarantee for the development of water projects in the domestic watershed,which effectively promotes the improvement of water economic relations between China and other countries within the basin as well as promotes the integration of regional economic relations.In the third section,based on the brief discussion on the performance evaluation criteria of water competition,it is pointed out that although China’s Water Diplomacy has gradually solved the vicious competition between China and the Mekong River Commission and effectively responded to the water competition outside the basin,its performance in promoting the formation of virtuous cooperation with the Mekong River Commission as well as the performance in dealing with water competition with countries outside the basin are both not satisfactory.In the fourth section,on the basis of the performance evaluation criteria of specific water public opinion regulation,it is pointed out that although Water Diplomacy becomes more active in responding to negative international public opinion from multiple perspectives,the construction of the water opinion regulation platform and the expression of empathy are still inadequate.In the fifth section,based on the analysis of the performance evaluation criteria of the diplomatic strategy,it is pointed out that although China’s Water Diplomacy has promoted some of China’s strategic objectives in the Mekong region to help China and the Mekong Countries establish water trust,and play a positive role in the constraints of some strategies that are not well-intentioned by the Mekong Countries,but the role of China’s Water Diplomacy in the overall diplomatic strategy is still limited.In the sixth section,on the basis of the performance evaluation criteria of the geopolitical order construction,it is pointed out that China’s Water Diplomacy has promoted the water order and regional order construction within the Mekong River area,but China’s Water Diplomacy still needs to be further tested in promoting the sustainable development of water order and the benign development of regional order.Chapter Five is The Upgrade Path and Promotion Strategy of China’s Water Diplomacy.This chapter mainly focuses on the escalation path of China’s Water Diplomacy and its specific promotion strategy in the Mekong River region.The first section mainly discusses the specific escalation path of China’s Water Diplomacy system from such five aspects as target orientation,implementation subject,implementation object,pointing field and implementation principle.The second section points out in the discussion of China’s Mekong River Water Diplomacy strategy that some causes of different conflicts overlap,which makes it too crushing and too difficult to distinguish the causes if a specific propulsion strategy is formed according to a certain type of issue,not to mention the fact that it is even less conducive to the overall solution of the water issue and the promotion of the water cooperation level within the Mekong River basin.Therefore,this section provides specific promoting ideas of Water Diplomacy from such aspects as strengthening mutual trust construction,constructing regional water management platform,improving the water cooperation content,coordinating the relevant cooperative mechanisms within the region,dealing with the competition and cooperation relation outside the region,strengthening the social responsibilities of the "going out" corporations,paying attention to the publicity and management of water public opinion,and establishing China’s Water Diplomacy think tank and so on.The third section mainly points out the possible trend in the future development of China’s Water Diplomacy,especially the change of the function of Water Diplomacy from single to compound,the continuous extension of the implementation of Water Diplomacy,the increase interaction of Water Diplomacy,the substantial change of the object of Water Diplomacy,the "neighbouring diplomatic function"of Water Diplomacy and the systematic escalation of the Water Diplomacy theory.