Amid warming ties, India pushes China for transborder rivers, hydro projects meet

Indeed, the timing couldn’t have been better. Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to be in New Delhi in September for the BRICS Summit. The visit is taking place amid a big thaw in the icy cold relationship that was marked by border clashes between the militaries of the two countries that peaked in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020.

Importantly, the border is calm, and the two sides have agreed “to work together to safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas.”

So, with the widespread devastation of floods in Assam garnering headlines, on Thursday (August 6), India requested China to expedite an early convening of the next meeting of the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) on trans‑border rivers and emphasised the importance of sharing technical details on upstream projects.

Set up in 2006 and held annually, the ELM specifically addresses hydrological data provision during flood seasons, emergency management protocols, and various issues concerning trans-border rivers as mutually agreed.

India’s focus became eminently clear on Thursday during the 36th Meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India‑China Border Affairs (WMCC) when the request for the next ELM was made. A statement by the foreign ministries of both countries mentions the development.

What would be foremost in the mind of the Indian delegation is China’s supremely ambitious plan to dam the Yarlung Tsangpo near the Indian border.

China’s planned $147-billion mega hydropower project near the Indo-China border has an estimated annual capacity of 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. The construction that began last year has sparked protests among tribal communities in Arunachal Pradesh, who are fearful of the downstream impact.

On July 19 last year, Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the launch of the mega dam project in Nyingchi, a Tibetan city at less than 50 km aerial distance from the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Yarlung Tsangpo flows as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and later, together with the Lohit River, flows as the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam. Notably, the Yarlung Tsangpo originates near Lake Mansarovar in Tibet, while the Lohit flows as the Zayul Chu, also in Tibet.

India’s worry stems from three facts:

First, the river flow becomes scarce during the dry season, while during the monsoon, there is a large excess flow of river water that spills beyond the banks and spreads as devastating floods.

Second, China is undertaking a supremely ambitious plan to dam the Yarlung Tsangpo–Brahmaputra River at a site that is directly above the Paizhen Fault, a tectonic fault zone in south-eastern Tibet that has remained highly active since the Ice Age (Pleistocene epoch).

Third, the India–China border zone sits on a very vulnerable and unstable tectonic zone that is prone to major earthquakes. Therefore, any structure bears the enormous risk of being heavily impacted by earthquakes and landslides.