Let's see India's new as below:


A controversial Chinese plan ?? currently on the boil in Beijing, that involves damming the Brahmaputra river and diverting 200 billion cubic metres of water annually to feed the ageing Yellow river ?? is giving sleepless nights to the Indian government.

Though it is still at the discussion stage and presents an enormous engineering challenge, the plan reportedly has the backing of Chinese President Hu Jintao, a hydro-engineer by profession, say sources in Beijing.

The idea, nevertheless, is believed to be serious enough to warrant exchange of cables between Beijing and New Delhi. India plans to engage in some serious consultations with China on this issue over the next few months.

The project plans to take the diverted water to feed north-eastern China watering Shaanxi, Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin areas, which could be looking at a parched future.

If the project goes through, it could strangle one of India's and Bangladesh's biggest sources of water.

China's economic prowess is the toast of the moment, but China's real source of influence over its southern neighbours is that it controls the tap for this part of the world.

The proposed project, called the 'Greater Western Water Diversion Project', is part of the gigantic South-North water project that has already been started by China.

In August, the Chinese government sanctioned 300 billion yuan to divert water from the upper reaches of the Yangtze river in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau to the upper reaches of the Yellow river in north-western China.

It will bring water from the Yalong, Dadu and Jinsha rivers, which are tributaries of the Yangtze, to the upper reaches of the Yellow river.

It is the proposed western route of this project being debated in China at present that is worrying strategists and policy-planners in the Indian government.

They believe this project, if allowed unopposed, could have immense impact on lower riparian states like India and Bangladesh.

Indian officials are preparing for detailed discussions with their Chinese counterparts over the next few months. The western diversion project is inspired by a book, How Tibet's Water Will Save China , by Li Ling.

Picking up a great deal of support among the Communist party leadership in Beijing, sources said, this book details the proposal by hydrologist Guo Kai called ???Shuo-tian??? (reverse flow) canal, which proposes to divert the Brahmaputra.

Recently, responding to Indian media reports that China had built a dam on the Sutlej river, the Chinese foreign ministry acknowledged the dam in Zhada county in Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) but said they did it for electricity for the local population.

In doing so, they "considered fully the impact on lower reaches".

Dam proposal rubbished by critics
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-22 07:53


A proposal by a water conservation expert to divert water from Yarlung Zangbo River (upper reaches of Brahmaputra) in the Tibet Autonomous Region to North China has met with strong opposition.

Water Resources Minister Wang Shucheng, also a hydraulic engineer, criticized the proposal as "unnecessary, unfeasible and unscientific."

"There is no need for such dramatic and unscientific projects," he said, admitting it involves major financial and technical difficulties.

"For example, we must keep an eye on possible floods when the Yellow River has 58 billion cubic metres of water. If another 50 billion cubic metres, not to mention 200 billion, is poured in, I am sure all the dams and protection embankments will be destroyed immediately," he said.

Moreover, the cost of diverting water from the Yarlung Zangbo would be much more expensive than any of the current ongoing water projects, Wang said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao also denied any plans to dam the river during a recent press briefing.

"The Chinese Government has no plans to build a dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River (the China part of the Brahmaputra) to divert water to the Yellow River," he said.

"Without international co-operation it is impossible to launch any major water project for an international river like this," Qin Hui, a professor in School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tsinghua University, was quoted as saying by the Economic Observer newspaper.

"Plus, we have to take the international response into consideration."

The Great Western Route Water Diversion Project, proposed by water conservation expert Guo Kai, suggests diverting 200 billion cubic metres of water from the Yarlung Zangbo, Lancang (Salween) and Nujiang (Mekong) rivers each year to the Yellow River and arid northwestern and northern regions of China.

The Brahmaputra is one of Asia's longest rivers. traversing China's Tibet Autonomous Region, India and Bangladesh before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

"It is undoubted that the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River are within India's Assam Province, where it is a lifeline for local agriculture and backbone of the economy, just as it is further downstream in Bangladesh."

"It is so obvious that the proposed damming project will have a cascading effect leading to a natural disaster in the lower foreign reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo, Lancang (Salween) and Nujiang (Mekong) rivers."

The professor warned that there were currently no recognized international regulations to follow concerning development of international rivers, not even for boundary rivers.

"If we do translate Guo's proposal into State language, international disputes will be unavoidable," he added.