Countries in the lower basin have greater chances of including China as a full member in the or some subsequent basin-wide institution if they campaign for it jointly, and if they are able to successfully link this issue to other aspects of cooperation with China. Upstream nations must be convinced of the broader benefits of cooperation benefits that, experience elsewhere has shown, are often not spelled out directly in the terms of an agreement but concern instead the political and economic gains that improved cooperation can generate. This was true for Thailand's to advocate and in the successive lower Mekong accords,