China Begins Building World’s Largest Dam in Yarlung

What Happened?

Chinese Premier Li Qiang presided over a ceremony marking the start of construction of a dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river on Saturday.

The river, which flows through the Tibetan plateau, has attracted criticism for its potential impact on millions of Indians and Bangladeshis living downriver. Beijing says the new dam, which will cost a projected 167 billion U.S. dollars when completed, will generate much needed electrical power and boost the local economy.

Local officials in India said the new dam was ‘going to cause an existential threat to our tribes and our livelihoods. It is quite serious because China could even use this as a sort of water bomb.’

Why it Matters

According to the British Broadcast Corporation, a 2020 report published by the Lowy Institute, an Australian-based think tank, concluded ‘control over these rivers in the Tibetan Plateau effectively gives China a chokehold on India's economy.’ While China insists it has the right to build the new dam, which will be larger than the Three Rivers Gorge dam when completed, India’s Ministry of External Affairs urged China to ‘ensure the interests of downstream states were not harmed.’

The dispute over the new dam is just the latest flashpoint between the world’s two most populous nations. One source of tension between China and India is geography. The two neighbors share a 2,100 mile and often ill-defined border which includes lakes, mountains, and glaciers. Melting snowpacks and shifting bodies of water often cause the border lines to shift as well, adding to potential disputes. 

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Because the frontier periodically undergoes unexpected shifts, the result is that sometimes Chinese and Indian military forces end up in close proximity. Disputed borders and troops close together has occasionally sparked skirmishes between India and China, including one which grew into the crisis of the Galwan Valley in 2020.

That was the first fatal confrontation between India and China since 1975, and at least 20 Indian, along with four Chinese soldiers died. The incident also raised the possibility of war between China and India.

Geography also plays a crucial role in the site selection for the dam by China. The Yarlung Tsango river is Tibet’s longest, and it proceeds through a massive canyon, making a sharp U-turn around the Namcha Barwa mountain and in the process dropping hundreds of meters in elevation. The large volume of water and the steep elevation drop provide the potential for significant hydroelectric power generation.

Despite the tensions and occasional border disputes, China is India’s second largest trading partner, and economic ties between the two neighbors remain strong. Border disputes can disrupt the flow of commerce, giving both countries an incentive to solve their differences peacefully.

How it Affects You

China and India are undergoing rapid changes in the 21^st century. India is trying to industrialize its economy, and China is building a wave of a massive new public works projects to provide infrastructure for its growing economy.

With so many changes taking place it is likely tensions between China and India will occasionally flare, but the probability of a large-scale war remains low.