China focuses to assume control over Brahmaputra's water
In yet another case in point where China has run into rough waters using its neighbours, the country has planned to build the world's biggest dam over River Brahmaputra - a 60-gigawatt mega-dam in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), reported Al Jazeera.
China is likely to construct a mega-dam on the Yarlung Zangbao River (referred to as the Brahmaputra in India), which flows through Tibet, Bangladesh and finally becomes the Brahmaputra when it enters India. The Yarlung Zangbao Dam approach is moving in advance without China talking about or getting into water-sharing agreements with downstream India or Bangladesh.
With the proposed mega-dam sited just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Indian border, Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha, the head of Environment and Development at the Tibetan Policy Institute believes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will "definitely make an effort to make usage of it as a political tool". A spokesperson for India's ministry responsible for managing its water methods said it could respond with a 10-gigawatt job on another tributary of the Brahmaputra, reported Al Jazeera. Sensing a tense situation ahead, the US has tried to prod both sides into resource-posting. The Tibet Policy and Support Act, just lately signed into legislation by Congress, outlined a commitment to "encourages a regional framework on water security... to facilitate cooperative agreements among all riparian nations ... on the Tibetan Plateau."
Likewise, the International Normal water Courses Convention, adopted by the US in 1997, applies certain rights and duties in relation to trans-boundary flows, although neither Bangladesh, India or China happen to be signatories. Brian Eyler, an expert in rivers who's the director of the South East Asia Method at the Stimson Center said China has generated several little- and medium-sized dam and according to an analysis of recent info on Chinese dams, "these procedures have shipped deeper and deeper cuts to the downstream communities of the once-mighty Mekong river."
He also noted that "zero coordination for operating dams" has allowed China's 11 Mekong dams to disrupt fish lifestyle and the flow of sediment and has directly contributed to the collapse of river banks and the destruction of communities.
Further, experts contain warned the record-breaking dam will probably own political and environmental effects.
The geopolitical factors were brought into sharp focus when China clashed with India in Ladakh in June last year and a 2017 border stand-off near to the border with Bhutan, which includes angered both nations over China's unilaterally chose hydroelectric power scheme.
Not merely India but other nations of Southeast Asia are damaged due to China's insufficient consultations with downstream neighbours and also have sparked controversy with them.
China's 11 mega-dams on the Mekong River have caused water levels there to fluctuate widely without prior find to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Some analysts believe China is using its leverage over drinking water flows as a adhere to win concessions from downstream Southeast Asian claims on additional issues, including in regard to its Belt and Road Initiative.
Moreover, Tibetan privileges activists will be opposing the proceed to build the dam in Yarlung Tsangpo River, as they contemplate it sacred - it represents your body of the goddess Dorje Phagmo, among the highest incarnations found in Tibetan culture.
