Flow facilitator

Information sharing platform will mark milestone progress in water resources cooperation between China and Mekong River countries

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the state leaders of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam attended the third Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Leaders' Meeting via video link and issued the Vientiane Declaration on Aug 24. China promised to share its Lancang River hydrological data for the whole year with the Mekong countries and establish a Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Information Sharing Platform, representing China's latest measure to offer the public goods of hydrological data to Mekong countries and help them tackle the droughts that have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years.

Since its inception, the LMC has always prioritized cooperation on water resources. As the upstream country, China provides 16 percent of the water to the downstream countries during rainy seasons, while this number rises to over 24 percent during droughts. For the Mekong countries affected by the tropical monsoon climate, the water melting from China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is instrumental to coping with droughts. It's generally acknowledged that upstream countries can utilize the river water independently, which is the cause for the lack of drive for whole-basin water resources cooperation.

However, China in practice has always played a positive role in Mekong-Lancang water resources cooperation and helped the Mekong countries' development by providing the public good of water resources.

This started in 1996 when China and Cambodia became dialogue partners of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), initiating the process of water resources cooperation promoted by the six countries. In 2002, China and the MRC signed the first document on hydrological data sharing, in which China committed to offer daily upstream river discharge and rainfall updates in rainy seasons to the MRC to help them improve their water management and flood warning systems and so reduce life and property losses. In 2008 and 2013, two follow-up documents were signed. In 2013, China renewed its data sharing cooperation with the MRC, increasing the frequency of the information exchange and extending the period of hydrological data sharing by 30 days, starting on June 1 until Oct 31. Under the previous agreement, China had shared its hydrological data from June 15 to Oct 15 every year. Up to now, 23 cooperation dialogues have been held between China and the MRC, and China has been providing flood-season hydrological data to the MRC for free for 17 consecutive years, making a positive contribution to flood prevention, drought control and disaster mitigation in upstream regions.

With the Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Information Sharing Platform, the LMC will put in place a new institutional platform for China to offer a water resources public good to Mekong countries. China has been dedicated to prioritizing water resources cooperation and set up the Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Center in partnership with the other five countries. The Ministerial Meeting on Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation was held and saw the approval of the proposal list for Mekong-Lancang Cooperation projects. In December 2019, the Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Center invited the MRC secretariat to become an observer of the joint working group and the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding. What's more, China also pledged to utilize $200 million from the fund for South-South cooperation on a priority basis and it is setting up a special fund of $300 million for Lancang-Mekong cooperation with the aim of ensuring a financial guarantee for water resources cooperation within the drainage basin.

Extreme weather in the Mekong region has become more frequent in recent years due to global warming. Seasonal droughts are causing more and more damage, threatening the sustainable development and people's well-being in the region. To help Mekong countries better respond, China promised at the 2010 MRC summit to increase outbound water flow in dry seasons. When Southern Vietnam suffered the worst drought in a century in 2016, China overcame its own difficulties of severe water shortages and initiated emergency water distribution of the Lancang cascade hydropower stations to release water downstream. In 2019, the Mekong River experienced its lowest water level since records began due to drought, causing huge economic losses to Thailand and other downstream countries. Against this backdrop, China once again discharged water from the dams in upstream regions to help them fight the drought.

At the recent third LMC Leaders' Meeting, Premier Li made the solemn pledge to offer timely updates on upstream flow changes and to share year-round upstream hydrological data, which means that the data shared will not just include the flood-season, but will also cover the drought-season. Such public good offered by China represents a milestone progress in Mekong water resources cooperation and will bring it to a new level.

Accurate and reliable hydrological information will help Mekong countries make better decisions on flood and drought prevention, promote a well-coordinated and mutually-supportive cooperative architecture among the natural resources management departments of China, MRC and downstream countries, and thus boost water utilization efficiency during droughts.

The Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Information Sharing Platform will enhance more scientific and regulate joint research on the Mekong River, help explore new ways and methods of water resources cooperation, minimize misunderstanding due to information asymmetry and boost mutual trust among the six countries. Li's pledges have responded to the Mekong countries' expectations for China's greater role in water resources cooperation and demonstrated China's sense of mission and responsibility as the upstream country. The "Chinese proposal "of water resources management in the Mekong region will lay a solid foundation for the whole-basin water resources cooperation in the future.

The LMC is motivated by the river and will flourish because of the river. The public good offered by China will take institutional water cooperation in the Mekong region onto a fast track, help relevant countries better implement the Five-Year Action Plan on Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation (2018-22) and enhance the capacity for integrated river basin management and water resources management. At the same time, the mutual trust and understanding nurtured during water resources cooperation between China and the Mekong countries are likely to expand to other areas of cooperation and cement more solid region coordination, thus helping the Mekong countries deliver the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

Zhai Kun is a professor at the School of International Studies and the deputy dean of the Institute of Area Studies at Peking University. Deng Han is a PhD of the School of International Studies at Peking University. The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.