How China plans to kill 3 birds with one stone with mega dam near Tibet

(Representational Image)

China’s mega dam — touted to be the world’s largest — on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border is a “weapon without artillery and the biggest investment in a single project on the planet", top intelligence sources have told CNN-News18.

Decoding what the sources called China’s new “game plan" to control downstream counties like India and Bangladesh, the sources said: “Hundreds of Tibetan protestors are in long-term custody in the Tibet region after unusual protests. The displacement of communities from the region is a major idea and China will impact the security of the region. This will create major imbalance and ultimately damage the regional balance, economic stability and security."

Satellite images seen by agencies reveal large-scale construction for the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project near the Tibet region and very close to Arunachal Pradesh. These include heavy machinery and army camp-like formations.

According to sources, the construction is happening on the left bank of the Yarlung Tsangpo River or Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra in Assam.

“The construction will be dangerous and will impact geology because drilling will hit tectonic plates, which could cause earthquakes," they said.

According to sources, China has approved the construction of the project with capacity of 60,000 MW of power on the Yarlung Tsangpo. Its entry point into India is located at Tuting in Upper Siang district.

This is very close to the Indian border post, which is just five kilometres away in Gelling, Upper Siang, 5.75 kilometres from Gelling village, 1.62 kilometres from the McMahon Line, and 35 kilometres from Medog town in the Nyingchi region of Tibet.

“The dam construction is a strategic project of China and Chinese have clear advantage to store or divert the flow of the river system. The Chinese have never worked on any project without a purpose. This dam will serve as a tool where both India and Bangladesh will suffer in the times of stand-off like the recent one after Galwan and Doklam."

They added: “China’s intent may be to divert water from multiple water reservoirs under the project, which will dry the regions of Tibet. In case China does this, the river coming to India — which is Siang — will also lose its water flow and impact both Assam and Bangladesh."

The sources said by building dams in the Tibetan plateau, China will gain significant upstream leverage over multiple neighbouring countries to which the rivers flow.

India has expressed concern that China might redirect additional water from transboundary rivers to its northern regions to meet the water demands of its coal and grain production centres.

Compared to China’s other main rivers, the Brahmaputra River has the lowest rate of hydropower utilisation.

Top government sources, while speaking to CNN-News18, said the matter is already in the knowledge of the government and “we are taking counter measures to meet our long-term requirements".

“Special Representative-level talks are going to discuss all these issues and we will take it forward. We have also announced some dams in Arunachal Pradesh in light of developments in our areas and tackling Chinese threat."