China denies adverse ecological impact of its upcoming hydropower project on Brahmaputra River

China on Jan 6 reiterated its plan to build the world's biggest dam over the Brahmaputra River in Tibet near the Indian border, saying the planned project has gone through rigorous scientific verification and will not have any negative impact on downstream countries — India and Bangladesh.

The project, estimated to cost around US$ 137 billion, is located in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur frequently.

China's construction of the hydropower project over in the Yarlung Tsangpo River (the Tibetan name for Brahmaputra River) downstream has gone through rigorous scientific verification and will not have any negative impact on the ecological environment, geology and water resources of the downstream countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry's new spokesman Guo Jiakun told a media briefing.

On the contrary, it will be conducive to downstream disaster prevention and mitigation and response to climate change to a certain extent, he said, replying to a question that India has expressed its concerns over the dam and the issue figured in the Indian officials talks with the visiting and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan, currently visiting Delhi, held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Jan 6 broadly reviewing the trajectory of the India-US global strategic partnership in the last four years under the Biden administration.

Sullivan is on a visit to India two weeks ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th president of the US.

Last month, China approved plans to build a dam over the Brahmaputra River called Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet close to the Indian border.

As per the plan, the massive dam will be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh.

In its first reaction to the proposed dam on Jan 3, India urged China to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.

"We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told media in Delhi.

"As a lower riparian state with established user rights to the waters of the river, we have consistently expressed, through expert-level as well as diplomatic channels, our views and concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory," Jaiswal said.

"These have been reiterated, along with the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries, following the latest report," he said.

"The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas," he added.

On Dec 27, another Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, defended China’s plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, saying the project will not negatively affect lower riparian states and that safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies.

"The project will not negatively affect the lower reaches," she said, referring to the concerns in India and Bangladesh, which are the lower riparian states.

China will continue to maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches through existing channels and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and relief for the benefit of the people by the river," she said.

She said China's hydropower development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River aims to speed up the development of clean energy and respond to climate change and extreme hydrological disasters.

(PTI)