Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
| Photo Credit: PTI

GUWAHATI

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said China’s refusal to enter into binding international water treaties, and selective sharing of hydrological data have raised concerns in the northeastern region.

Speaking at the inaugural function of a seminar titled ‘Environment and Security’ organised at the State Assembly in Itanagar on Friday (January 24, 2025), he drew the attention of all stakeholders towards the Chinese plan to construct the world’s largest hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo river, which enters Arunachal Pradesh as Siang and becomes the Brahmaputra in Assam before flowing into Bangladesh as the Jamuna.

In December, China confirmed plans to build a 60,000 megawatt dam close to the Arunachal Pradesh border in Tibet. Beijing claimed the hydroelectric project would have minimal impact on the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions.

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“The dam will let China control the timing and volume of water flowing downstream, which can have devastating effects during periods of low flow or drought. The mighty Siang or the Brahmaputra river will dry up during winters, disrupting life in the Siang belt and the plains of Assam,” Mr. Khandu warned.

On the other hand, sudden release of water from the dam could cause severe flooding downstream, particularly during the monsoon season, displacing communities, destroying crops, and damaging infrastructure. “Furthermore, the dam will alter the sediment flow, affecting agricultural lands that rely on the river’s natural replenishment of nutrients,” he said.

China’s construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river poses significant risks to the water security, ecology, and livelihoods of millions of people downstream in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Bangladesh. “The potential disruption of water flow, flooding, and ecosystem degradation could have far-reaching consequences for us,” Mr. Khandu said.

Pointing out that most major rivers of India originate from the Tibetan plateau, the Chief Minister said the Chinese government’s “rampant exploitation” of Tibet’s natural resources poses a serious threat to the very existence of these river systems upon which millions of Indians depend for survival.

“Tibet is often referred to as the ‘Water Tower of Asia’, supplying water to over a billion people in the region. Its environmental health is critical not only to China and India but to much of Asia. Therefore, India, given its direct dependency on Tibet’s rivers and climate patterns, has a significant role to play in global environmental conservation efforts,” he said.

The Chief Minister hoped that the discussions during the seminar would yield possible solutions to mitigate the alarming environmental situation in Tibet that has put the South and Southeast Asian regions at risk. He suggested the urgent need for “cooperative governance of shared water resources” in Asia.

The seminar, focussing on the environmental situation in Tibet and its relation to India’s security, was organised by the Tibet Support Group of Arunachal Pradesh, and the Core Group for Tibetan Cause.

Among the participants were Sikyong Penpa Tsering from the Central Tibetan Administration; Lok Sabha member and co-convenor of the All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet Tapir Gao; and representatives of the Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum.

China has approved the construction of the world’s largest dam, stated to be the planet’s biggest infra project costing $137 billion, on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border, raising concerns in riparian states — India and Bangladesh.

The Chinese government has approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra, according to an official statement quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency on Wednesday (December 25, 2024).

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The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra river makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh.

The total investment in the dam could exceed one trillion yuan ($137 billion), which would dwarf any other single infrastructure project on the planet including China’s own Three Gorges Dam, regarded as the largest in the world, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

China has already Operationalised the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet in 2015.

The Brahmaputra dam was part of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 adopted by Plenum, a key policy body of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2020.

Concerns arose in India as the dam besides empowering China to control the water flow, the size and scale of it could also enable Beijing to release large amounts of water flooding border areas in times of hostilities.

India too is building a dam over Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh.

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India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers under which China provides India with hydrological information on the Brahmaputra river and Sutlej river during the flood seasons.

Data sharing of trans-border rivers figured in the talks between India, China Special Representatives (SRs) for border question, NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, held here on December 18.

The SRs “provided positive directions for cross-border cooperation and exchanges” including data sharing on trans-border rivers, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Brahmaputra Dam presents enormous engineering challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur.

The Tibetan plateau, regarded as the roof of the world, frequently experiences earthquakes as it is located over the tectonic plates.

The official statement on Wednesday sought to allay concerns about earthquakes, saying that the hydropower project is safe and prioritises ecological protection.

Through extensive geological explorations and technical advancements, a solid foundation has been laid for the science-based, secure, and high-quality development of the project, it said.

The Brahmaputra flows across the Tibetan Plateau, carving out the deepest canyon on Earth and covering a staggering vertical difference of 25,154 feet before reaching India, the Post report said.

The dam will be built in one of the rainiest parts of mainland China bringing bountiful flows of water.

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According to a 2023 report, the hydropower station is expected to generate more than 300 billion kWh of electricity each year — enough to meet the annual needs of over 300 million people.

In 2020, Yan Zhiyong, then chairman of the state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China, was quoted in the media as saying the location on the Yarlung Tsangpo was one of the most hydropower-rich areas in the world.

“The lower reaches area features a vertical drop of 2,000 metres over a 50km distance, representing nearly 70 million kilowatts of resources that could be developed — that is more than three Three Gorges Dams with an installed capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts,” the Post quoted him as saying.

To harness the hydropower potential of the river, four to six 20km-long tunnels must be drilled through the Namcha Barwa mountain to divert half of the river’s flow at about 2,000 cubic metres per second, according to the report.

Mr. Yan said that the hydropower exploitation of the Yarlung Zangbo River downstream is more than a hydropower project.

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It is also meaningful for the environment, national security, living standards, energy and international cooperation.

“It is a project for national security, including water resources and domestic security,” he said, noting that the project will also smooth cooperation with South Asia.

The hydropower station could generate income of 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) annually for the Tibet Autonomous Region, he said.

An official statement on Wednesday defended the project, saying it will play a positive role in accelerating the country’s efforts to create a new development pattern and pursue high-quality development.

It is also of great importance to advancing the country’s strategy for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and to coping with global climate change, it said.

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The hydropower project is a green project aimed at promoting low-carbon development. By harnessing the abundant hydropower resources of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the project will also spur the development of solar and wind energy resources in surrounding areas, thus creating a clean energy base featuring a complementary mix of hydro, wind and solar power, it said.

It will directly stimulate the rapid growth of such industries as engineering, logistics and trade services, and create new jobs, it said.

Once completed, the project will further improve infrastructures of electricity, water conservancy and transportation. It will strengthen the synergy of development between Tibet and other regions, it said.