*By Dechen Palmo
The problem of water
scarcity in the region
China having more than
20% of the world’s population has less than 7% of global freshwater resource at
its disposal. Moreover, the available water is unequally distributed, with
Tibet having more water than northern China. To relieve the enormous pressure
on water resource in China’s north, the leadership in 2003 launched a gigantic
South-to-North Water Transfer Project.[i] To satisfy its insatiable demand for
electricity and as a part of its shift away from coal, China went on a dam
building spree. However, the Chinese projects on the Tibet's
transboundary river have negative impact on the downstream countries.
 |
The frozen Yarlung Tsangpo River just before it enters India from Tibet (Image by Yang Yong) caption |
One such issue is about
the Brahmaputra River. The Brahmaputra River which is also known as the Yarlung
Tsangpo and has its source in Chemayungdung glacier in Tibet. The river flows into three densely populated
nations of the world--China, India and Bangladesh. India, which is the middle riparian of the
Brahmaputra River, has sour relations with China which control the source of
this river in Tibet.
But with Chinese
construction of dams and water diversion projects, it threatens the downstream
countries. In the meantime, there is need for Beijing to maintain relatively
stable relations with neighbouring countries in order to provide conditions for
China's peaceful rise.[iii]
Desecuritizing the
water issue
To meet its surging
energy demand, China itself seeks to utilize its huge hydropower potential of
the Brahmaputra but on other hand, China has to maintain a stable relation with
India and Bangladesh. Therefore, China follows the desecuritization policy to
deal with the water sharing conflicts.
Desecuritization refers
to the process of "moving issues off the security agenda and back into the
realm of political discourse and normal political dispute and accommodation.
Desecuritization is therefore about ‘turning threats into challenges and
security into politics’.[iv]
 |
| Source: Environment and Development Desk, Tibet Policy Institute |
China's
desecuritization moves have primarily been of a reactive and short-term nature.[v]
Whenever there is concerns raised about the Chinese activities on the upstream
of the river, Beijing resorts to a volley of rhetorical comments. The main tool
used by the Chinese is the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
regarding sharing hydrological data with India and Bangladesh, not
leaving any space for downstream to point finger to China for being
uncooperative upper riparian country.
But, whenever the
circumstances arise, China uses Tibet's river to achieve its foreign policy
goal. During the Doklam conflict, the issue of Brahmaputra also came into play,
this is because of the lack of cooperation or agreement between the two
countries. Since there is no water sharing agreement or any dispute settling
mechanism between the two countries, the issue of water is often mixed with
border conflicts.
With the recent Chinese
policy of not sharing hydrological data with India, China has actually violated
the bilateral MoUs. According to the MoUs, China is obliged to share a hydrological
data from three upstream monitoring stations of the Brahmaputra River in Tibet
during the monsoon season from May 15 to October 15 and India on other side has
to pay for the hydrological data. While
China sells hydrological data to downstream countries, India provides such data
without charging fee to both of its downstream neighbors- Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
Mr. Raveesh Kumar,
Indian foreign ministry spokesperson during a regular briefing said that
"for this year, we have not received the hydrological data from the
Chinese side".[vi]
Will the existing MoUs
and the expert level mechanism between the two countries ensure future
cooperation? Will there be any war between the two countries as predicted in
case of any physical change in the flow of the river?
Until now, the existing
MoU and the expert level mechanism worked for both countries. Beijing assured
continuous flow of river despite damming of the river and the Indian government
on the other hand also maintain a cordial relation with China over water
issues, while simultaneously raising Brahmaputra River as an issue of concern
with Chinese leaders.
Water Conflict
Due to rising demand,
extensive use and climate change have all aggravated water security problems in
the region. According to a Mckinsey
report (2009) it suggests that by 2030, water demand in India will grow by
almost 1.5 trillion m3, against this demand, India’s current water supply is
approximately 740 billion m3. As a result,
most of India’s river basin could face severe deficit by 2030, unless concerted
action is taken. [vii]
With the usual China desecuritization moves over
water conflicts, Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Geng Shuang told media in Beijing that "for a long time we have cooperated on the river data with the
Indian side. But to upgrade and renovate the relevant station on the Chinese
side, we do not have the conditions now to collect the relevant statistics of
the river." But the question of upgrading and reconstruction comes
to light when Bangladesh, downstream to India received same hydrological data
from China about the same river. Bangladesh's
water resources minister, Anisul Islam Mohammad confirmed to the BBC that his
country was receiving hydrological data from China.[viii]
Although,
Beijing claimed the alleged paucity in data sharing is because of renovation,
but Chinese observers have pointed to the escalating tensions in Doklam.
Hu
Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai
Academy of Social Sciences said that "Although China is a responsible
country, we can't fulfill our obligations to India when it shows no respect to
our sovereignty". He further added that China will not agree to carry out
normal cooperation on hydrological data with India, unless it agrees to
withdraw troops from Doklam.[ix]
So,
from this it clearly indicates that Beijing is using the Brahmaputra as a
leverage against India to achieve its political goal. Since the problem of
border conflict is unlikely to be solved in the near future, so does the
problem of Brahmaputra River.
Therefore,
it is necessary for both countries to set up a joint institutional mechanism to
encourage further cooperation on disaster management, climate change and
environmental protection. If the current situation remains the same, then this
is likely lead to a war over water as predicted by some of the experts.
*The author is an environment Research Fellow at the Environment & Development Desk of the Tibet Policy Institute
[i]
For more information, see South-to-North Water Diversion Project, China, Accessed
on 30 October, 2017,Retrieved from: https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/south-north-water-transfer-project
[ii]
Muhammad Mizanur Rahaman and Olli Varis, ‘Integrated water management of the
Brahmaputra Basin: perspectives and hope for regional development’, National
Resources Forum 33(1), (2009), pp. 60 – 61.
[iii]
For more information on peaceful rise, see Peaceful rise, Accessed on 29
October, 2017. Available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2005-09-01/chinas-peaceful-rise-great-power-status
[iv]
Williams, ‘Words, images, enemies’, p.
523.
[v]
Ole Waever, ‘Securitization and desecuritization’, in Ronnie Lipschutz, ed., On
Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), p. 60.
[vi]
Hindustan times, accessed on 29 September, 2017, available at http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/have-not-received-data-on-rivers-from-China-says-external-affairs-ministry/storyjyFqj071HSoGQogPF1uiUP.html
[vii]
As quoted in ('the Mckinsey Report') by IDSA, Institute of Defence Studies and
Analyses, New Delhi, 'Water Security for India: The External Dynamics,' IDSA
Task Force Report, September, 2010, ISBN# 81-86019-83-9
[viii]
Navin Sigh Khadka, 'China and India water 'dispute' after border standoff, 18
September 2017, retrieved from BBC, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41303082
[ix]
Zhao Yusha, Global times (2017). China has to halt river data sharing as India
infringes on sovereignty: expert
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1062249.shtml
