Watershed or Powershed? Critical Hydropolitics,China and the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework’

The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new era of hydropolitics with a growing number of hydropower dams throughout the basin. Three ‘powersheds’, conceptualised as physical, institutional and political constructs that connect dams to major power markets in China, Thailand and Vietnam, are transforming the nature–society relations of the watershed. In the process, new conditions are produced within which the region’s hydropolitics unfold. This is epitomised by the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation’ framework, a new initiative led by China that proposes programs on both economic and water resource development, and anticipates hydrodiplomacy via China’s dam-engineered control of the headwaters.     

Desecuritization,Domestic Struggles,and Egypt’s Conflict with Ethiopia over the Nile River

Egypt maintained a policy of antagonism at arm’s length toward Ethiopia throughout Husni Mubarak’s presidency. This pattern changed immediately following Mubarak’s ouster. The burst of rapprochement and diplomatic activism that took shape in the spring of 2011 signaled a fundamental shift in the content and form of Egyptian policy vis-à-vis Ethiopia, which was reflected in President Muhammad Mursi’s reluctance to respond belligerently to Ethiopian initiatives 2 years later that threatened to diminish the northward flow of the Nile. Cairo’s evident restraint during the Mursi era cannot be explained by a change in the strategic circumstances that confronted Egyptian policy-makers. A more promising explanation can be found in a reformulation of desecuritization theory, which highlights the internal dynamics whereby potentially dangerous aspects of a country’s external environment get transformed into matters of routine political contestation.     

加快黄河三角洲发展的现实思考

黄河三角洲与长三角和珠三角相比,其发展具有独特优势,而这些优势却又制约了黄河三角洲的发展,这就形成了黄河三角洲发展的“条件悖论”,所以,在加快黄河三角洲开发过程中,必须打破这些“悖论”,才能真正走出符合自身特色的发展之路。     

基于外贸视角的经济增长方式转型——以长江三角洲地区为例

中国发达地区传统的经济增长方式转型是牵引中国经济持续发展的主要动力。从对外贸易的角度审视,尽管长江三角洲地区外贸总量快速增长,但加工贸易增值系数和经济效益不高,在全球产业链中处于低端。以往依靠税收优惠和稀缺土地资源进行的招商引资,在带动地区经济规模的扩张和外贸粗放增长的同时,也产生了成本上升和资源无法支撑外贸继续发展的副作用。频繁遭遇的各种贸易壁垒,则从国外市场的需求和生产技术国际标准方面,构成了对长三角地区外贸发展模式的倒逼机制。增强自主技术创新的能力,积极探索引资方式的创新,稳步推进“走出去”的多元化战略,建设和完善高效应对贸易摩擦的机制,才能实现经济持续、稳健、快速的发展。