The western part of China borders on South and Southeast Asia. Of the numerous well known international rivers sharing with the two regions, the Lancang2Mekong River has been most extensively studied in the world for its important strategic position, rich resources, prosperous potential market as well as considerable opportunities for investment and development. The sustainable multipurpose development in this area has increasingly become the focus of international regional cooperation, and great attention has been paid to this area by the international society. Up to now, at least 10 major actions in the international regional cooperation are expected in this area. This paper intends, at the angle of geography and with the overall target of promoting the sustainable development in the basin through international cooperations, to study the international position, the potential and the prospects for development of the Lancang-Mekong River, to analyze the main problems in this international cooperation, to propose targets and prospects for such cooperation, and to indicate the way for geographers to participate in such research.

Western China includes 12 provincial divisions (the 7 provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shangxi, Gansu, Qinghai and; 5 autonomous regions of Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi; and one city of Chongqing), which comprise 71.4% of the national land area, 28.5% of the national population and produce 17.5% of the national GDP in China. There are 17 countries that have riparian relationships with wester n China, most of which are water -short countries. All are listed by UN ESCAP as countries with potential water crisis. The co-operative development and coordinated management of international rivers in western China is an important step toward the implementation of the national Great Western Development program. Taking into account of the national strategy and object hierarchy, as well as the development demand of the western region, it is necessary to pursue the multi-disciplinary study of the equitable allocation, utilisation, and eco-environment protection of transboundary water resource in the region. Such efforts will undoubtedly provide scientific evidence and support for the decision-making of the environmental protection and ecological construction and management in the western region, the enforcement of the sub-regional economic co-operation, mitigation of trans-boundary conflicts, and enhancing bio-diversity conservation.

China possesses over 110 international rivers and lakes, among which 41 are major ones and 15 are of great importance. With the highest concentration of international rivers, the northeast, northwest and southwest regions of China enjoy abundant transboundary resources aad pose complicated ecological security issues. Following the 1950s, relevant studies on international rivers fall into three periods: 1) the planned economy period of the 1950s 1980s when border development mad basic research were scant; 2) the reform mad opening up period from 1980 to the end of 20th century. Along with the drive of economic globalizafion mad regional cooperation, development of international rivers was thriving, which filled blanks in the research and nanowed gaps with international standards. Relevant studies also provided national mad local governments with important scientific grounds for making decisions; 3) since the start of the 21st century, China has integrated its international river studies across sectors mad across international borders. Now both government mad scientific institutions pay great attention to transboundary environmental issues.

综合研究了跨境水资源分配的特点、目标、模式、原则、指标体系和影响等因素：①对近10年来跨境水资源分配的研究进行了总结，归纳出新的发展趋势；②从自然和国际法两方面属性分析跨境水资源的特点，判识跨境水分配的核心问题和难点；③系统地分析了全局分配、项目分配和流域整体规划分配等分水模式；④在分析跨境水资源的分配原则基础上，提出了分水技术指标体系，并探讨了其影响因数和主要指标的确定；⑤结合这些研究，对我国的跨境水资源分配，提出了相关建议。

针对次澜沧江——湄公河区域快速增长的能源需求，以及国际社会对该流域水电开发的经济、生态和社会问题的关注，集中分析了流域干流水电梯级开发对生态环境的综合影响，提出了能满足各流域国对能源、防洪、灌溉、水生生态保护和减轻海水倒灌等多方面需求的对策措施。