India on Friday made clear its concerns regarding the construction of a proposed mega hydropower dam in Tibet. “It will take necessary steps to protect its interests and monitor the situation,” India said.
According to news agency AFP, if the dam is built, it will be bigger than the record-breaking Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in central China. The dam could potentially have dire consequences for millions of people in India and Bangladesh.
The plan was announced last month in a report by China’s state-run news agency Xinhua.
The dam is known as the ‘Yarling Tsangpu’ (in Tibet) and the ‘Brahmaputra’ in India, and has been linked to Beijing’s carbon reduction targets and economic development plans for the Tibetan region.
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India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday: ‘China has been urged not to harm the interests of lower Brahmaputra states by its activities in the upper reaches.’
“New Delhi will continue to monitor and take necessary steps to protect its interests,” Jaiswal told reporters.
He added that India has rights over the river waters and ‘we have continuously expressed our views and concerns. Regarding major projects on rivers in this (Chinese) region.
“After the latest report, these concerns were reiterated with the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries.”
Last month, China’s foreign ministry said Beijing had “always taken a responsible attitude towards the development of transboundary rivers.”
And it also said the hydroelectric project was ‘designed to accelerate the development of clean energy and combat climate change.’
The ministry said that ‘it will not have negative effects on the downstream areas.’ And also said that ‘we will maintain contact with the countries located on the banks of the rivers.’
In addition to downstream concerns, environmentalists have warned in the past that such mega-projects could have an irreversible impact on the ecologically sensitive Tibetan region.
India and China, neighboring and rival Asian powers, share thousands of kilometers of disputed border with thousands of troops stationed on both sides.
