China’s Refusal On Water Sharing To Seriously Impact India

June 25, 2011
Source: thelinkpaper

NEW DELHI – The recent scare about China diverting the Brahmaputra is not the first time that India has expressed concerns about its communist neighbour’s hydel projects and it is unlikely to be the last given that China not only has a host of projects lined up on the river – 24 according to some reports – but also at least five with a cumulative power generation capacity of about 2000 MW lined up on the Arun river (Bamchu) that enters India to become the Kosi.

Neither is India the only country voicing these concerns. China’s abhorrence of any proposal to share natural resources has also caused consternation in other southeast Asian states like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos — which are downstream the Mekong river.

China has six mega dams with three more to come up on the Mekong. China’s increasing economic prowess has meant that there is hardly any pressure from the international community on the matter leaving all the lower riparian states around it to more or less fend for themselves. India’s putative future losses because of China’s preoccupation with mega dams is pegged at the highest among all the other SE Asian states given that most of the country’s major rivers originate in Tibet.

There is also the added problem that any mention of surveillance by satellites tends to evoke vociferous allegations of snooping from China. The first indications of the Zangmu dam on the Brahmaputra, which China finally admitted to last year, were got from satellite imagery. Says strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney, “China has always been unapologetic about its refusal to enter into water-sharing agreements with any state.

It has always maintained that it would take into account the interests of the lower riparian states but about half of the world’s total number of large dams are in China. India, with so many of its major rivers originating in Tibet, is going to be among the worst affected.