‘Carefully monitoring’ Brahmaputra amid China dam plans, says India

India on Thursday stated it “carefully monitors all developments on the Brahmaputra” river, at the same time as Beijing stated it was its “legitimate right” to develop hydropower tasks on the decrease reaches of the river.

A State-run Chinese hydropower agency, POWERCHINA, is planning to construct the primary downstream dam on the Brahmaputra, generally known as the Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet, with officers from the agency saying final week they have been eyeing the large potential of the river’s “Great Bend” simply throughout the border from Arunachal Pradesh in Tibet’s Medog county, the place the river falls over a 2,000 metre-drop earlier than turning to stream into India.

While China in 2015 operationalised its first hydropower undertaking at Zangmu in Tibet and is developing three different dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha, these are run-of-the-river dams on the higher and center reaches. The new proposed dam can be more likely to be a run-of-the-river hydropower undertaking that won’t divert water, however would be the first on the decrease reaches.

On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying stated “it is China’s legitimate right to carry out hydropower station development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River.”

‘Responsible attitude’

“China has always held a responsible attitude towards the development and utilisation of cross-border rivers and adopted the policy of simultaneously developing and protecting cross-border rivers,” she stated. “Any project we undertake will go through scientific planning and research and we fully consider the impact on the downstream areas, taking into account the interests of both the upstream and the downstream. At present, the development of a hydropower station at the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River is still in the early planning and research stage, and there is no need to interpret too much into it.”

It stays unclear whether or not technical feasibility research will enable development to go forward, as POWERCHINA shouldn’t be the primary firm to suggest a downstream dam and former tasks didn’t take off.

Flood reporting

Ms. Hua stated China had “for a long time carried out good cooperation with India and Bangladesh in flood reporting, flood control, disaster relief, and emergency management” and “will maintain communication with India and Bangladesh through existing channels.”

Asked about China’s plans, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava stated at his weekly briefing that the “government carefully monitors all developments on the Brahmaputra River.”

“As a lower riparian State with considerable established user rights to the waters of the trans-border rivers, the government has consistently conveyed its views and concerns to the Chinese authorities and has urged them to ensure that the interests of downstream States are not harmed by any activities in upstream areas,” he stated. “The Chinese side has conveyed to us on several occasions that they are only undertaking run-of-the-river hydropower projects which do not involve diversion of the waters of the Brahmaputra. Various issues relating to trans-border rivers are discussed with China under the ambit of an institutionalised Expert Level Mechanism which was established in 2006, as well as through diplomatic channels. We intend to remain engaged with China on the issue of trans-border rivers to safeguard our interests.”

LAC talks

On the present standing of talks between India and China to disengage on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar instructed The Puucho in an unique interview on Wednesday negotiations may take longer, drawing a parallel with the 9 year-long Sumdorong Chu stand-off in 1986 — Mr. Srivastava stated the 2 sides “continue to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels with the objective of ensuring complete disengagement in all friction points along the LAC in the Western sector and full restoration of peace and tranquillity.”

“Both sides have agreed to have another round of Senior Commanders meeting at an appropriate time,” he stated. “As and when we have more information, we will share it with you.”