River Politics: China's policies in the Mekong and the Brahmaputra in comparative perspective
2013; Routledge; Volume: 23; Issue: 85 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/10670564.2013.809974
ISSN1469-9400
Autores Tópico(s)Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies
ResumoAbstractChina manages its transboundary rivers as a subset of its broader relations with other riparian states. This results in discernible differences in the way China approaches its international river systems. Although there is a limit to the extent of Chinese cooperation, in relative terms China is more cooperative in the Mekong than in the Brahmaputra. To China, Southeast Asian states are part of a hierarchical system where it stands at the apex. While problems exist, there are deep linkages between them, which help foster collaboration in the Mekong. India, which has greater power parity with China, is not part of China's hierarchical worldview. The territorial disputes and security dilemmas that characterize South Asian geopolitics further impede cooperation. Domestic considerations also impact on China's river policies. There is greater consensus among Chinese policymakers in managing the Mekong than the Brahmaputra, which explains the higher degree of clarity in Chinese policies towards the former compared to the latter. Notes 1. Avery Goldstein, 'An emerging China's emerging grand strategy: a neo-Bismarckian turn?', in John Ikenberry and Michael Mastanduno, eds, International Relations Theory and the Asia–Pacific (New York: Columbia University, 2003), pp. 57–106. 2. Brahma Chellaney, Water: Asia's New Battleground (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011), p. 152. 3. Without engaging in a debate on the definition of multilateralism in this study, I have opted to define multilateralism in the broadest sense, using Robert Keohane's definition, which is 'the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states'. This definition allows for the inclusion of multilateral bodies, institutions, agreements and diplomacy in our discussion. See Robert O. Keohane, 'Multilateralism: an agenda for research', International Journal 45, (Autumn 1990), p. 731. 4. See for example Cheng-Chwee Kuik, 'Multilateralism in China's ASEAN policy: its evolution, characteristics and aspirations', Contemporary Southeast Asia 27(1), (2005), pp. 102–122. 5. Article 78 of the 2002 Water Law states: 'Where any international treaty or agreement relating to international or border rivers or lakes, concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China, contains provisions differing from those in the laws of the People's Republic of China, the provisions of the international treaty or agreement shall apply, unless the provisions are the ones on which the People's Republic of China has declared reservation'. Available at: http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/207454.htm. 6. James E. Nickum, 'The upstream superpower: China's international rivers', in Olli Varis, Cecilia Tortajada and Asit K. Biswas, eds, Management of Transboundary Rivers and Lakes (Berlin: Springer, 2008), p. 228. 7. This term is used by Nickum, Ibid. 8.Ibid., p. 230. 9. Peter Navarro, The Coming China Wars: Where They Will be Fought and How They Can Be Won (New Jersey: Financial Times Press, 2007).10. Chellaney, Water, p. 3.11.Atlas of International Freshwater Agreements, pp. 2–3, available at: http://www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu/publications/atlas/atlas_pdf/2_WorldsAgreements_atlas.pdf.12.Ibid.13. Aaron T. Wolf, 'Conflict and cooperation along international waterways', Water Policy 1(2), (1998), p. 257. Wolf did note that there was a single instance of a water war fought 4,500 years ago.14. Evelyn Goh, 'China in the Mekong River Basin: the regional security implications of resource development on the Lancang Jiang', in Mely Caballero-Anthony, Ralf Emmers and Amitav Acharya, eds, Non-Traditional Security in Asia: Dilemmas in Securitization (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006), p. 226.15. 'Common pool resources' are defined as 'sufficiently large natural or manmade resources that is costly (but not necessarily impossible) to exclude potential beneficiaries from obtaining benefits from their use'. Definition taken from Roy Gardner, Elinor Ostrom and James Walker, 'The nature of common-pool resource problems', Rationality and Society 2, (1990), p. 335.16. MRC 2005, 2004, International Water Security, p. 82.17. Alex Liebman, 'Trickle-down hegemony? China's peaceful rise and dam building on the Mekong', Contemporary Southeast Asia 27(2), (2005), p. 292.18. Signed in 2001 between China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.19. Evelyn Goh, Developing the Mekong: Regionalism and Regional Security in China–Southeast Asian Relations, International Institute for Strategic Studies Adelphi Paper 387 (London: Routledge, 2007), p. 30.20.Ibid.21. Richard Cronin, 'China and the geopolitics of the Mekong River Basin: Part II', World Politics Review, (23 March 2012).22. 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John Dore, Yu Xiaogang and Kevin Yuk-shing Li, 'China's energy reforms and hydropower expansion in Yunnan', in Louis Lebel, John Dore, Rajesh Daniel and Yang Saing Koma, eds, Democratizing Water Governance in the Mekong Region (Chiang Mai: Mekong Press, 2007), p. 65.67.Ibid., p. 56.68. Holslag, 'Assessing the Sino–Indian water dispute', p. 25.69. Li Ling, Xizang zhi shui jiu Zhongguo [Tibet's Waters Will Save China] (Beijing: Zhongguo Chang'an Chu Ban She, 2005).70. Holslag, 'Assessing the Sino–Indian water dispute'.71.Ibid.72. Harold Lasswell, Politics: Who Gets What, When, How (NY: P. Smith, 1950).73. John Waterbury, The Nile Basin: National Determinants of Collective Action (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002).74. Kang, 'Hierarchy and stability in the Asia Pacific'.75. Timo Menniken, 'China's performance in international resource politics: lesson from the Mekong', Contemporary Southeast Asia 29(1), (2007), p. 111.76. 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