JOIN USVice-President Hamid Ansari’s visit to China to mark the 60th anniversary of the Panchsheel agreement saw the two sides sign three important Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs).
While the first MoU, which provides a framework for establishing China-dedicated infrastructure parks in India will facilitate Chinese investment here, another formalises training exchange programme for officials of both countries. This will enable both sides to draw on each other’s best administrative practices. It is the MoU on the River Brahmaputra that is perhaps the most interesting as it represents a step towards increasing transparency over trans-boundary river water sharing. In recent years, concern in India has mounted over Chinese plans to build dams across the Tibetan stretch of the Brahmaputra. More worrying is the South-North Water Transfer Project, which envisages diversion of the Brahmaputra’s waters to water-scarce northern China. Its implications for agriculture and ecology in India and Bangladesh, the lower riparian countries, could be devastating.
Lack of transparency on the part of China on hydrological data has accentuated anxieties. Beijing did not, for instance, share information with India on a landslide in 2000 that blocked the Brahmaputra for several days. When the river water pushed its way past the rubble, it caused a sharp surge in flow resulting in sudden floods in India’s Northeast. Such concerns can be expected to ease to some extent with the implementation of the MoU signed during Ansari’s visit. Under this MoU, China has agreed to share hydrological data on the Brahmaputra with India on a daily basis between May 15 and October 15 every year, a fortnight more than what it had agreed to earlier. What is more, for the first time ever China has agreed to allow Indian hydrological experts to conduct study tours of the river in Tibet.
While this could build some confidence on water-related issues, it isn’t enough given the enormity and complexity of the conflict that looms. China needs to heed India’s calls for substantial and sustained engagement on water issues. Pending a water sharing treaty, India and China must put in place a joint water commission or an inter-governmental dialogue on water issues to prevent conflict escalation. Sino-Indian relations have improved remarkably in recent decades. But water conflicts the world over have shown the tendency to turn violent. This is why a joint mechanism needs to be put in place immediately.