China’s water hegemony

BERLIN – The severe drought now ravaging Southeast and South Asia has helped spotlight China’s emergence as the upstream water controller in Asia through a globally unparalleled hydro-engineering infrastructure centered on damming rivers. Indeed, Beijing itself has highlighted its water hegemony over downstream countries by releasing some dammed water for drought-hit nations in the lower Mekong River basin.

In releasing what it called “emergency water flows” to downstream states over several weeks from one of its six giant dams — located just before the Mekong flows out of Chinese territory — China brashly touted the utility of its upstream structures in fighting droughts and floods.

China’s Mega-Dam in Tibet Begins Operations, India Watches Closely

 

Beijing:  China has begun generating electricity from Tibet’s biggest ever hydropower project, the latest dam development on Himalayan rivers that has prompted concern in India.

The dam on the Yarlung Zangbo river – known as the Brahmaputra in India, where it is a major waterway – will be 116 metres (381 feet) high when completed next year, according to reports.