Opinion | China's Hydro Hegemony Is Overstated, India Needs A Plan
China’s upstream position is a reality, but its dominance on the Brahmaputra is overstated.India would require building a lower riparian coalition.
Editorial Staff
Opinion | China's Hydro Hegemony Is Overstated, India Needs A Plan China’s upstream position is a reality, but its dominance on the Brahmaputra is overstated. It’s time to de-emphasise China’s hydro-hegemony. Pursuing a more meaningful water dialogue on hydrological data-sharing is essential, but India would equally require building a lower riparian coalition with Bhutan and Bangladesh on the Brahmaputra. China is planning to harness the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo, or the Brahmaputra, as it is known in India. Many of these planned water-related projects, under China’s new five-year plan (2021-2025), will be built disconcertingly close to India’s border. China’s overdrive on transboundary rivers has strategic content, underpinned not only by its low-carbon energy economic growth, but also fashioned by the desire to use international rivers as instruments of politico-diplomatic leverage. As an upstream country, China shares more than 50 major international watercourses with 14 downstream neighbours. The volume of water flowing out of China to o…
