Politics
China’s new mega dam triggers fears of water war in India
- Beijing building world’s largest dam upstream of India.
- India fears Chinese dam will reduce flow on major river.
- Delhi says mega dam of its own will mitigate risks.
PARONG, INDIA: India fears a planned Chinese mega-dam in Tibet will reduce water flows on a major river by up to 85% during the dry season, according to four sources familiar with the matter and a government analysis seen by Reuters, prompting Delhi to fast-track plans for its own dam to mitigate the effects.
The Indian government has been considering projects since the early 2000s to control the flow of water from Tibet’s Angsi Glacier, which sustains more than 100 million people downstream in China, India and Bangladesh. But the plans have been hindered by fierce and occasionally violent resistance from residents of the border state of Arunachal Pradesh, who fear their villages will be submerged and way of life destroyed by any dam.
Then in December, China announced that it would build the world’s largest hydropower dam in a border county just before the Yarlung Zangbo river crosses into India. That triggered fears in New Delhi that its longtime strategic rival – which has some territorial claims in Arunachal Pradesh – could weaponise its control of the river, which originates in the Angsi Glacier and is known as the Siang and Brahmaputra in India.
India’s largest hydropower company in May moved survey materials under armed police protection near a prospective site of the Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage Dam, which would be the country’s biggest dam, if completed. Senior Indian officials have also been holding meetings about accelerating construction this year, including one organised in July by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, according to two of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive government matters.
Delhi’s concerns were described in the undated Indian government analysis of the Chinese dam’s impact, the specifics of which Reuters corroborated with four sources and is reporting for the first time.
Beijing hasn’t released detailed plans about the dam’s construction, but the analysis drew on past work conducted by Indian government-affiliated institutions like the Central Water Commission and accounted for the expected size of the Chinese project, which broke ground in July and will cost nearly $170 billion.
Delhi estimates the Chinese dam will allow Beijing to divert as much as 40 billion cubic meters of water, or just over a third of what is received annually at a key border point, according to the sources and the document. The impact would be especially acute in the non-monsoon months, when temperatures rise and lands become barren across swathes of India.
The Upper Siang project would alleviate that with its projected 14 BCM of storage capacity, allowing India to release water during the dry season. That could mean the major regional city of Guwahati, which is dependent on water-intensive industry and farming, would see a reduction in supply of 11%, according to the sources and the document, as opposed to 25% if the Indian dam isn’t built.
The project could also mitigate any move by Beijing to release devastating torrents of water downstream, the sources said.
If the dam is at its minimum drawdown level – where water is stored at less than 50% of its height – it would be able to fully absorb any excess water released from a breach in Chinese infrastructure, according to the document and the sources. India is considering a proposal to keep 30% of its dam empty at any time in order to account for unexpected surges, two of the sources said.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said in response to Reuters‘ questions that the hydropower projects “have undergone rigorous scientific research on safety and environmental protection, and will not adversely impact the water resources, ecology, or geology of downstream countries.”
“China has always maintained a responsible attitude toward the development and utilisation of transboundary rivers, and has maintained long-term communication and cooperation with downstream countries such as India and Bangladesh,” the spokesperson added.
Modi’s office and the Indian ministries responsible for water and external affairs did not respond to Reuters‘ questions. State-owned hydropower major NHPC also did not return a request for comment.
India’s foreign ministry has said that top diplomat S Jaishankar raised concerns about the dam during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on Aug 18. A Jaishankar deputy also told lawmakers in August that the government was implementing measures to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of citizens in downstream areas, including building the dam.
India has itself been accused by Pakistan, a Chinese ally that it briefly clashed with in May, of weaponizing water. Delhi this year suspended its participation in a 1960 water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and is considering diverting flows from another crucial river away from its downstream neighbour.
An international tribunal has ruled that India must adhere to the agreement but Delhi says the panel lacks jurisdiction.
Development or destruction?
When NHPC workers moved surveying materials near the village of Parong in May, angry locals damaged their machinery, destroyed a nearby bridge and looted the tents of police sent to guard the operation.
Many of them are members of Arunachal’s Adi community, who live off paddy, orange and sweet lime farms in the mist-shrouded hills and valleys nourished by the Siang.
The villagers have set up makeshift watch posts on regional roads to deny access to NHPC workers. That has forced security personnel to trek miles, often under cover of night, to reach a prospective site of the dam.
At least 16 Adi villages are likely to be lost to the storage area of the dam, directly affecting an estimated 10,000 people, according to two of the sources. Community leaders say more than 100,000 people will be impacted overall.
“The cardamom, paddy, jackfruit and pear we grow on this land help educate our children and support our family,” said Odoni Palo Pabin, an Adi grocer and mother of two. “We will fight the dam to death.”
The dam has the support of Arunachal’s chief minister, who is a member of Modi’s party and has called the Chinese project an existential threat.
The project will “ensure water security and provide flood moderation to counter any potential water surges,” the state government said in a statement, adding that it decided in June to engage in detailed compensation discussions with families that could be affected by the dam.
Lawmaker Alo Libang, an Adi who represents an area that would be submerged by the Indian project, said he believed locals could be convinced to move if they received generous compensation.
NHPC has plans to spend more than $3 million on education and emergency infrastructure to incentivise the villagers to move elsewhere, three of the sources said, citing instructions from Modi’s office.
In one sign of progress, three villages in the area recently agreed to let NHPC officials carry out dam-related work, according to the Arunachal government and dozens of locals.
India has a history of activist movements against large dams, which have sometimes slowed these projects by years or forced them to scale down.
Even if the Upper Siang dam gets the go-ahead, it could take a decade to build after breaking ground, according to four of the sources. That means the project would likely be completed after China’s project, which Beijing expects to start generating power by the early-to-mid 2030s.
The delay means an Indian project would be vulnerable during construction if Beijing suddenly releases water during the monsoon season, triggering a surge that could wash away temporary dams, two of the sources said.
International experts and Adi activists have also warned that building large dams in seismically active Tibet and Arunachal could heighten risks for downstream communities.
The Chinese “dam is being built in a zone of high seismicity and in a zone that experiences extreme weather events,” said Sayanangshu Modak, an expert on the India-China water relationship at the University of Arizona.
“These kinds of extreme weather events trigger landslides, mudslides, glacial lake outburst flooding,” he said. “So that raises concerns about dam safety… it’s a very legitimate concern and India should engage with China.”
Bosnia’s national museum has defended a decision to donate funds from the display of a precious Jewish manuscript to the people of Gaza.
It said ticket sales to see the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the most precious religious manuscripts of the Middle Ages, would be donated to “support the people of Palestine who suffer systematic, calculated and cold-blooded terror, directly by the state of Israel”.
The move drew intense criticism earlier this month from Jewish organisations, with some abroad accusing the museum of antisemitism.
But museum director Mirsad Sijaric, 55, stood by the decision and said he had received numerous messages of support from Jewish people around the world.
“Did we choose one of the sides? Yes, we chose one of the sides,” Sijaric told AFP.
‘Politicisation’
The museum’s donation will also include sales from a book about the Haggadah.
Sijaric insisted the move was “absolutely not” directed against Jewish people, but was instead a message of opposition to what was happening in Gaza.
“Feigning neutrality is siding with evil. In my opinion, this is pure evil, and one must oppose it.”
Several Jewish organisations criticised the museum’s announcement, including the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, which labelled it a “politicisation” of a “symbol of heritage, survival, and coexistence”.
Sitting in a glass cabinet in a specially designed room in the museum, the Haggadah has long been a treasured symbol of Sarajevo´s diversity.
The majority-Muslim city is also home to just under a thousand Jewish people.
Symbol of ‘shared life’
The Haggadah’s illuminated and well-preserved parchment pages narrate the creation of the world and the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.
Dating back to 1350, the intricately illustrated manuscript is believed to have been written near Barcelona, and brought to Sarajevo by Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492.
It survived Nazi occupation and was kept safe during intensive shelling in the Bosnian War of the 1990s.
Jakob Finci, president of the Bosnian Jewish community, described the move as “bizarre” and “a bit offensive”.
“It tarnishes Sarajevo´s reputation and that of the Sarajevo Haggadah, the book that for many years has borne witness to Sarajevo´s multiethnic character and our shared life,” Finci said.
“I’ve heard a lot of criticism [of the move]… I have not seen any praise.”
Long kept in a safe and rarely displayed, the book has been more accessible since the special room opened in 2018 after a renovation paid for by France.
Its rich history and rarity continue to draw visitors and academics to the museum.
“I think it’s a way to support the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Italian Egyptologist Silvia Einaudi after viewing the manuscript.
“Gaza, why not?” said French visitor Paul Hellec. “It’s a tough topic at the moment. But there are also many other places where people are suffering.”
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized by Hamas, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,819 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
- Xi to review troops, military hardware at Tiananmen Square.
- Parade marks Japan’s WWII surrender anniversary on Sept 3.
- Belarus, Iran, Indonesia, Serbia leaders amongst attendants.
BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will attend a military parade in Beijing, marking the first public appearance of the two leaders alongside President Xi Jinping in a show of collective defiance amid Western pressure.
No Western leaders will be among the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending the parade next week with the exception of Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia, a European Union member state, according to the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday.
Against the backdrop of China’s growing military might during the “Victory Day” parade on September 3, the three leaders will project a major show of solidarity not just between China and the Global South, but also with sanctions-hit Russia and North Korea.
Russia, which Beijing counts as a strategic partner, has been battered by multiple rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with its economy on the brink of slipping into recession. Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court, last travelled in China in 2024.
North Korea, a formal treaty ally of China’s, has been under United Nations Security Council sanctions since 2006 over its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Kim last visited China in January 2019.
Those attending the parade marking the formal surrender of Japan during World War II will include Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iran’s President Masoud Pezashkian, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei at a news conference.
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic will also attend the parade.
The United Nations will be represented by Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, who previously served in various capacities at the Chinese foreign ministry, including time as the Chinese ambassador to Italy, San Marino and Myanmar.
On the day, President Xi Jinping will survey tens of thousands of troops at Tiananmen Square alongside the foreign dignitaries and senior Chinese leaders.
The highly choreographed parade, to be one of China’s largest in years, will showcase cutting-edge equipment like fighter jets, missile defence systems and hypersonic weapons.
The Israeli military escalated its operations in and around Gaza City on Wednesday, targeting key areas amid ongoing tensions in the region. This military activity comes as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to host a high-level meeting at the White House to discuss post-war strategies and reconstruction plans for the devastated Palestinian territory.
Officials highlighted the urgent need for coordinated efforts to address humanitarian challenges, restore infrastructure, and provide aid to civilians affected by the conflict, while also navigating the complex political and security dynamics in the region.
Israel is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its almost two-year campaign in Gaza, where the United Nations has declared a famine.
Mediators have circulated a truce proposal which has been accepted by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Whose October 2023 attack triggered the devastating war. But Israel has yet to give an official response.
On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 24 people on Wednesday.
The Israeli military, which is preparing to conquer Gaza City, said troops were operating on the outskirts of the territory’s largest city .
“To locate and dismantle terror infrastructure sites”.
As aid groups have warned against expanding the Israeli offensive, the army’s Arabic-language spokesman.
Avichay Adraee, said on X that Gaza City’s evacuation was “inevitable”.
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war.
In Jabalia, just north of Gaza City, resident Hamad al-Karawi said he had left his home after a message broadcast from a drone ordered people to evacuate immediately.
“We scattered out onto the streets with no place or home to take refuge in,” he told AFP.
The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surroundings in the north of the territory.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US president would host top officials at the White House later on Wednesday to thrash out a detailed plan for post-war Gaza.
“It’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together,” Witkoff told Fox News, without offering more details.
Trump stunned the world earlier this year when he suggested the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip.
Clear out its inhabitants and redevelop it as seaside real estate.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the proposal which sparked a global outcry.
In Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood on Wednesday, residents reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight.
“Warplanes struck several times, and drones fired throughout the night,” said Tala al-Khatib, 29.
“Some neighbours have fled… But wherever you flee, death follows you,” she said.
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