Battle for Water

China's approval of a massive hydropower project on the Yarlung Zangbo River raises concerns over its environmental and geopolitical impact, with India planning countermeasure in the form of Siang Dam which is not a viable solution and could ironically threaten regional stability

- DIPANKAR DEY

On December 25, 2024, the state-controlled Chinese media Xinhua reported that the Chinese government has approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river—known, in the downstream, as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, as Brahmaputra in Assam and Jamuna river in Bangladesh.

The hydropower project is expected to boost local people's livelihood and prosperity in Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region. The hydropower project is a green project aimed at promoting low-carbon development, claimed the government.

On December 27, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson in her regular briefing assured that China's hydropower development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River aims to speed up developing clean energy, and respond to climate change and extreme hydrological disasters.

The hydropower development there has been studied in an in-depth way for decades, and safeguard measures have been taken for the security of the project and ecological environment protection.

The project has no negative impact on the lower reaches. China will continue to maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches through existing channels, and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and relief for the benefit of the people by the river, the official statement claimed.

A section of hydrologists are of the opinion that despite China controlling more than half the Brahmaputra basin's area and building a super dam to control water without consultation with downstream neighbours, water conflict between India and China is less likely due to the unique hydrology of the Brahmaputra basin.

They argue that while China controls over half of the basin's area, most of that area lies in a rain shadow, formed when monsoon winds rise over Himalayan peaks and then descend again onto the Tibetan Plateau.