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River deep, tensions high: China assures India over Tibet dam plans amid spectre of drought
- Plans to build hydropower plant on Yarlung Tsangpo River, which flows from Tibet to India, are at early stage and impact will be assessed, embassy says
- India has said it may build its own plant downstream to mitigate the effects, while the neighbours’ border row shows little sign of easing
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Laura Zhouin Beijing
China has said its plans to build massive dams on a river near its disputed border with India remain at an early stage and urged against overreactions, with tensions between the neighbours already high as a months-long stand-off continues.
It follows indications that China intends to build a massive hydropower plant on the lower reaches of the 2,900km Yarlung Tsangpo River, which originates in Tibet – a key area for power generation – before flowing into India as the Brahmaputra.
“Any project will undergo scientific planning and [testing] with full consideration for the impact on the downstream areas and the interests of both upstream and downstream countries,” Ji Rong, spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, said in a statement late on Wednesday.
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“At present, the downstream development of the Yarlung Tsangpo River is still in the stage of preliminary planning and demonstration. There is no need to over-interpret it.”
Last week, Yan Zhiyong, the chairman of state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China, said at a conference in Beijing the project would be triple the size of China’s giant Three Gorges Dam and could significantly boost its water resources.
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Yan said the reference to the idea’s “implementation” in October’s five-year plan – which sets out the central government’s economic and related goals – was “a historic opportunity for the hydropower industry”.
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