Asia requires a ruled-based system to manage its water resources and maintain rapid economic growth in the region but China appears to be a stumbling block, experts say.
China does not have a single water sharing treaty in place with any of its neighboring countries, refusing be tied up by a regional regulatory framework and fearing it will lose its strategic grip on transboundary river flows, the experts told a Washington conference.
“Without bringing China on board, it is impossible to establish a rules-based water regime in Asia, given the centrality of China,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.
This could not only affect the future of water resources in the region and dampen economic outlook for Asia, but also lead to regional conflict, he warned.
Nearly all of China’s neighbors have forged water agreements among themselves but not one of them has a water agreement with the Asian giant.
Chellaney acknowledged that it would be difficult to convince Beijing to consider negotiating a regional agreement, saying its key location as the source of much of the region’s water gives it little reason to share resources with its neighbors downstream.
“There is no other country in the world that comes close to the hydro-supremacy that China has established,” Chellaney said. “[But] cross-border dependency on water flows is high across Asia.”
“The fact that most Asian countries are dependent on cross-border flows to a significant degree, makes water cooperation central to ensuring Asian peace and stability,” he said.
“The question is how does one bring China on board?”
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