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organizations. Beginning from 2008 State program "Training, selection and displacement of the leading cadres from the clever women and girls for 2007-2016" is realized. The women amount to 49,8% of the country population.
"Lomonosovskie chteniya: vostokovedenie ", M., 2010, April, p. 199-2006.
S. Luzyanin,
doctor of sciences (history)
E. Safronova,
cand. of sciences (economy)
HYDROTECHNICAL "ATTACK" OF CHINA
IN CENTRAL ASIA: CONSEQUENCES FOR
KAZAKHSTAN AND RUSSIA
China belongs among the states of the eastern Asia being capable of having effect on and already having the marked influence on neighboring countries. Water supply of some territories of Russia and Kazakhstan depend on China to a considerable degree.
There exists contradictive enough water situation in China. On one hand, China takes 5-6 place in volume of renewable water resources in the world (mainly owing to that many littoral territories of the country are characterized with monsoon supply of the rivers when the summer monsoon brings much water and is accompanied with high water and floods). On the face of it there can't be water shortage in China. However, during the period of the winter monsoon there comes a dry season causing a sharp decreasing of the river flowing. So, one can observe water shortage during the dry season even having a rather large quantity of average annual water resources. Besides, water shortage in China like in the most countries of Central Asia is mainly
caused by its unpractical use. So, water resources are spent in China per unit of production in 10-20 times more in comparison with Europe and USA.
There are external circumstances in spite of water shortage in China itself being capable of China's changing into active guide of water policy in the region as China is water donor of Central Asian region and the large part of the South and the South-East Asia. Many rivers head in the mountain regions of China including Brakhmaputra (Matsang-Tsangpo in Tibet), Ind, Mekong (Dzachu-Lan'tsantsyan in China) and Khongkha (the Red river) - (Lishekhe-Yuan'tszyan at the territory of China).
The large part of the Central Asia's territory, at least 50% is supplied with water resources from abroad. So, about one-third of water resources of Kazakhstan are from transboundary rivers heading in China. With its will China can make a control over transboundary river flowing as an effective lever of policy with respect to countries located downstream.
Only for the account of the transboundary rivers Sin'tszyan-Uigurskogo autonomous district and Kazakhstan one can solve water supply problem in the western areas of China facing to a problem on developing of hydropower engineering, oil and the other branches of industry, irrigated agriculture, animal breeding for increasing and moving population there.
Peking is inclined to use water resources of more than 30 rivers running from China in Kazakhstan whereas Kazakhstan gets the overwhelming part of its waters from abroad - from China (Irtysh) or from Kyrgyzstan (the Syr Darya).
The main object of the joint management is the river the Black Irtysh. The length of the Black Irtysh in China up to the border with Kazakhstan is 672 km; it falls into the lake Zaisan having the area of
1800 square kilometers at the territory of Kazakhstan. Irtysh proper flows out the lake Zaisan where the inflows Ishim and Tobol flow into. The economic and domestic needs of the area exceed the existing water resources by 21% by now; besides the water of Irtysh is very dirty. In Kazakhstan Bukhtarminskaya, Ust'-Kamenogorskaya and Shul'binskaya hydropower plants are constructed and operate in the river Irtysh. Reservoir storage of Bukhtarminskoi hydropower plant having a volume of 490 cubic meters makes the long-term control of the river flowing but the reservoir of Shul'binskaya hydropower plant -the seasonal one. Annually Peking increases the sown area under cotton and the crops in Sin'tszyan-Uigurskom autonomous area for the account of water intake from the Black Irtysh; it will be increased up to 5 cubic meters in a year after 2010.
The Chinese hydrotechnical "attack" in Central Asia took place as early as in 1970 when more than one third of waters of the transboundary river Ili (third largest river in Kazakhstan) were taken for irrigation especially just at the Chinese territory resulting in shoaling of the Lake Balkhash.
To our mind the regime intensification by China to use the transboundary rivers can bring to the following negative consequences for Kazakhstan: natural water, climatic and common natural disbalance in the area of the Lakes Balkhash and Zaisan; to the detriment of the fishery, decreasing the level of crop yield and pasture degradation; a huge fall of biological water value right up to its unfitness for domestic use owing to hazardous substances concentration increasing there.
China doesn't join to two basic international treaties for the present - Convention on the right of unnavigable types to use the international watercourses (1997) and Convention on protection and the transboundary watercourse and the international lake using (1992).
However, it insists on the transboundary watercourse regulation by conducting bilateral negotiations (China- Kazakhstan with Russia).
The legal basis of the Chinese-Kazakhstan negotiations is narrow enough. The additional legal complexity for Kazakhstan (also for Russia) is that the river heads of Irtysh are in SUAA. It follows from the international-legal documents that the owner of the river runoff formed at the territory of the concrete state is just that state. Therefore, it is authorized to dispose of these waters and as it means must do it rationally, i.e. without prejudice for ecology and economic activity over water areas and territories located downstream. However, nobody specially mentions (and per se, this problem isn't taken into account) is this state to be responsible for observing at least minimal sanitary codes and the corresponding expenses on water purification that state has to bears where polluted waters flow.
The Chinese party tries to soft-pedal the acutest problem associated with water intake level increasing from the rivers Irtysh and Ili. In all probability this tactics entails the intention to play along and finalize its projects in SUAA according to scheduled terms thereby confronting the neighbors with a fait accompli.
China changes gradually hydro-economic regime of Irtysh's part to its own advantage (it's about 70% of stream canal) thereby partly destabilizing water supply of the south of the West Siberia. Russia doesn't get for the present more than 2 cubic km of water in the year because of the Black Irtysh canal's change; Omskaya, Kurganskaya and Tyumenskaya oblasts can face with acute water shortages. Water intake from Irtysh brought to the water supply problems in the Northern Caucasus (for example, 300-kilometer-long channel Irtysh - Karaganda became substantially shallow). The corresponding member of the National academy of sciences of Kazakhstan, I. Seversky, supposes that because of China's interference into Irtysh's current its flow deficit will
be increased so that sanitary minimum water support will cause the great difficulties, one will have to refuse from navigation, fishery and the necessary lands flood. Cascade powers of the Irtysh hydropower plants are decreasing already at the territory of the republic.
According to project coordinators on water resources of the National ecologic center of Kazakhstan, K. Duskaev, the Irtysh water intake increasing can bring to ecologic catastrophe in the near Irtysh region literally in several years: "Water flowing into Irtysh and therefore into Ob from China is now polluted with heavy metals, oil products and nitrates". "The Irtysh problem" is very urgent for Russia because Irtysh ranks N6 in the country on volumes of dumping of polluted sewage. There is a threat for a dangerous pollution of the river Tobol with many other confluents of Ob flowing into Russia from China. Chemical pollution of water is often of irreversible character. So, water resources recovery of Ob is under great doubt now.
The plans adopted by Peking without agreement with Russia on water use of the rivers and its confluents heading in China are fraught with the new economic and ecological risks for Russia and also for Kazakhstan. In spite of the fact that Irtysh is the transboundary river for Russia and China Peking appealing to the individual approach in every concrete case insists on the negotiations continuing concerning the Irtysh resources future only in bilateral format with Kazakhstan without Russia's participation. In all probability the Chinese party doesn't hurry to limit its economy to use water resources and all the more to accept a compromise with the partners to solve this problem supposing that a rapid continuous development of China's economy supporting the needs of the large population of the country is impossible without adequate water supply.
The main economic priority of the Russian "water strategy" over the triangle area "Russia-Kazakhstan-China" is high technology
development on effective water use and water saving and all the more that our country has undoubted competitive advantages in this respect: Russia has its own rich experience to control water resources and also extensive knowledge on water specificity not only of Kazakhstan but of the whole Central Asia and also its hydrotechnical infrastructure stored during the decades. Russia could be successful in giving technical assistance in depreciated irrigation system reconstruction built during the soviet period; in assisting geological investigations on groundwater resource evaluation and also in space monitoring of water resource state.
"AziyaIAfrika segodnya", M., 2010, N9, p. 34-38.
