Dam on upper reaches Brahmaputra will not impact India, Bangladesh: China
Beijing, Jul 23 (PTI): China on Wednesday defended the launch of the construction of a dam over the Brahmaputra river in the ecologically sensitive Tibet region and allayed concerns over its impact in the lower riparian countries such as India and Bangladesh.
It is learnt that India is keeping a close eye on the construction of what is said to be the world's largest hydropower dam.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday announced the start of the construction of the dam in the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River, locally known as Yarlung Zangbo, at Nyingchi City located close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Arunachal Pradesh sector.
The project "will not have any negative impact on the downstream regions", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a media briefing, while responding to a question on concerns in India and Bangladesh over the dam.
There have been mounting concerns in India over the potential environmental impact of the dam.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu recently called it a ticking "water bomb", an existential threat and a bigger issue than anything else apart from the military threat.
In an interview to PTI Videos on July 8, Khandu said the world's largest dam project on the Brahmaputra river is a matter of grave concern as China is not a signatory to the international water treaty that could have forced it to abide by international norms.
"The issue is that China cannot be trusted. No one knows what they might do," said Khandu.
The dam is expected to generate more than 300 billion kWh of electricity each year, enough to meet the annual needs of over 300 million people.
Concerns arose in India as the dam besides empowering China to control the water flow, the size and scale of it could also enable Beijing to release large amounts of water that could flood border areas on the Indian side.
Playing down the concerns of the lower riparian states, Guo said China has cooperated with them by sharing hydrological data, flood prevention and disaster alleviation.
China had necessary communication with the two countries on the project, he said, adding that China would continue to enhance cooperation with downstream countries to benefit the people along the river.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the development of the project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River is a matter of China’s sovereignty.
The project was aimed at building clean energy, improving local people’s lives and in response to climate change, he added.
In the planning, design and construction of the hydro power projects in the lower reaches, China strictly follows the highest industrial standards in protecting ecological environment in an all-round way, he said.
He also claimed that the development of the project will help prevent disasters along the whole river and will not have a negative impact on the downstream regions.
China has already operationalised the USD 1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet, in 2015, which raised concerns in India.
Critics point out that the dams in Brahmaputra present an enormous engineering challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur frequently.
The Tibetan plateau, regarded as the roof of the world, periodically experiences earthquakes as it is located over the tectonic plates.
India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers under which China provides India with hydrological information on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers during the flood seasons.
However, the sharing of hydrological data between the two countries hit a roadblock following the eastern Ladakh border row.
Data sharing of trans-border rivers figured in the talks between India, China Special Representatives (SRs) for border question, NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, held here on December 18 last year.
Reports from Dhaka said the Chinese envoy to Bangladesh Yao Wen has assured that its dam is solely for electricity generation and will not affect water flow to downstream countries.
Yao conveyed the message during a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain during their meeting on July 21.
"China will not withdraw or use any water from the project and the project will not affect downstream countries," he was quoted as saying in a media report.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
